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With the present reality of the expansion of cities and neighborhoods resulting in the decrease in available space in and around them, many professional teams, universities, high schools and parks and recreation departments are looking worldwide towards synthetic means to meet their expanding demands. The National Football League, Major League Baseball and soccer, universities, colleges and high schools are using the new generation of in-filled turf for their stadium fields and practice facilities.

Washington, D.C. is no stranger to land extinction. A few years back we were asked to find a surface for a new soccer/lacrosse complex and softball stadium outfield at the George Washington University Department of Athletics. The fields would not only be used for varsity practices and games but also for campus recreation, club sports and student activities.

Therefore, we knew that natural turf was not an option because of the time demand for all of these activities. Prior to the construction of this new complex the teams were forced to practice and compete at a rented community recreation field located 40 miles from campus in rural Virginia.

With the assistance of our project management group (Clough Harbour and Associates) and our turf consultants (Hummer Sports Turf), the decision was made to install a sand and rubber filled synthetic grass playing surface. Even the highest quality natural grass field would not survive the stress that would be caused by such a demanding schedule, let alone the high maintenance costs and game and practice cancellations due to weather.

The Hummer Sports turf system that we installed consists of a two-inch blade polyethylene, rubber and sand infill on top of a porous rubber pad. The rubber pad is for extra cushion and to maintain consistent G-Max ratings. Beneath the pad is four to six inches of drainage gravel; cross field drainage piping every 20 feet that ties into sideline u drains. The field is 96,000 square feet, has a pitch of .83 percent (almost flat) and drains vertically at a rate of two inches per hour. Within an hour of a torrential rain the surface is dry. The subsurface and drainage under the rubber pad is the same as would be used on a sand based natural field. With natural grass, a game played in the rain could destroy the field for the season.

Due to the schedule and multiple uses of the complex, the individual sport competition lines are painted according to the season. Being difficult to remove the lines, painting over them in the off-season in green slightly darker than the surface of the turf does not have an effect on the in season team game lines, but allows the out-of-season team to have shadow competition lines.

“Advances in technology show the infill turf systems are at the point that they resemble and play like grass . . .”

The maintenance of the turf field is easy, takes a lot of strain off of the administration and grounds crew and reduces the overall budget. The northeast climate calls for regular leaf removal in the fall with hand-held leaf blowers. Large brushes attached to a golf cart are used to brush the surface in order to maintain turf consistency and even out the fill. Snow removal is a challenge. We are unable to use traditional snow removal methods (trucks and plows) because of the damage that would be caused by the weight crushing the drainage system as well as tearing and bunching of the surface. We once again turned to Hummer Sports Turf for assistance and guidance. Hummer approved the use of the combination of a John Deere tractor with a snow blower attachment set at one inch above the turf’s surface for most effective and efficient snow removal. A field can be cleared in 4-8 hours depending on the snow accumulation and number of tractors and blowers used.

The coaches’ preference obviously is to play on natural grass, but due to the limitations that come with it they are very pleased with the artificial surface. This has been confirmed through conversations with our coaches, consultants as well as Todd Breighner, general manager of Ripken Management and Design.

Advances in technology show the infill turf systems are at the point that they resemble and play like grass. Breighner also agrees that in the area of maintenance and drainage the system performs well.

According to an article in the January issue of Stadia on turf and sports surfaces, a high quality natural grass field, properly maintained, can allow for only 450 hours on average per year compared to a properly maintained artificial turf field which can withstand an average of up to 2,500 playing hours in that same time period. As populations increase, cities expand, teams grow and demand rises, synthetic turf fields will yield the most possibilities; which may make former major leaguer Dick Allen’s famous comment, “If a horse won’t eat it, I won’t play on it,” a thing of the past.

Tony Vecchione is assistant athletic director of facilities and operations at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He can be reached at tonyv@gwu.edu.