Why do new Oklahoma high school football stadiums have turf fields? 'Simply usability'
Nick SardisThe Oklahoman
With each high school football season that comes along, more and more brand new stadiums are being unveiled in the Oklahoma City metro area.
From smaller schools like Blanchard to bigger ones like Edmond Memorial and Edmond North, several teams in recent years have gotten new fields.
This year will be no different as both Southmoore and Westmoore will compete in new stadiums.
And there’s a common theme among all of these fields — every one of them has turf instead of grass.
Go to a high school football game this fall and chances are you’ll see a turf field, although there are exceptions. There’s a debate about which type of playing surface is better for player safety, but for those in the Oklahoma high school football community, turf is the way to go and it’s just as safe as natural grass.
“We track concussions, and it doesn’t matter,” Edmond Public Schools athletic director Mike Nunley said. “And to be honest, in football a couple of years ago, we had more concussions in basketball and wrestling than we did in football combined.”
One of the main concerns with turf fields has to do with how hot it can get in the grueling summer months as it reaches temperatures much higher than on natural grass.
The three Moore public schools are combating that.
Instead of using the traditional black rubber infill, they’re instead going with BrockFill, a wood particle infill.
“It’s going to keep the field up to 20 degrees cooler than the temperature around, so it’s not a black infill — it’s a fiber infill — and so we’re really excited about that,” Westmoore athletic director Chad Mashburn said. “That’s kind of a big deal, so that’ll help with the safety of the kids, the heat exhaustion, stuff like that when they’re out practicing earlier in the season.”
Moore High, which had been the home stadium for its two crosstown rivals before this year, had its field replaced with a new one at the end of May, and all three schools in the district have the wood infill.
“With this new turf, it’s considerably cooler, so the technology of turf has improved over the years,” he said. “You’re very comparable to what the temperature would be on grass.”
As for injuries, there’s conflicting research about whether turf is safer.
Chris Trobaugh, a veteran athletic trainer who is at Deer Creek, hasn’t personally noticed a big issue with injuries on turf.
“I’ve covered sports on natural grass and turf for pretty much my entire 20-year career,” Trobaugh said. “I’ll say that I haven’t really seen an uptick in orthopedic injuries like some ATs have seen. There are a lot of fields where athletic trainers have gotten new turf and they’ve noticed that they’ve had more ankle and knee injuries. I’ve never really experienced that at any of the schools that I’ve worked at.”
Deer Creek still uses rubber infill, so the heat is something Trobaugh is cautious about during this time of the year.
“The biggest thing for me has been worrying about how the kids handle the heat on a turf field because you put in a turf field and you’re instantly worrying about 25- to 30-degrees warmer air temp around it because as the turf heats up, it doesn’t cool off like grass does,” he said.
There are obvious advantages to a high school having turf instead of natural grass.
All three Edmond public schools have turf fields, and for Nunley, the advantages far outweigh any drawbacks, which for Edmond does include high temperatures in the summer and also having to replace them every 10 years or so.
“For us it was simply usability,” Nunley said. “You practice on it every day, you can play games on it every day. Ours were heavy-use areas, and that would be No. 1.
“No. 2 is the maintenance. It’s not going to save you money, but it saves you manpower, man time. You can redirect those people that are working on your athletic fields to do other areas that they need to be working on. If you’re a major university like OU and you want to play on grass, it’s great. But they’re playing six games a year and they’re not practicing on it, so that makes an enormous difference.”
There’s no doubt that turf is more efficient from the perspective of an administrator.
But for a player, there is something special about trotting out onto a natural grass field.
“At the end of the day, I’m just a backyard football kid trying to make it,” Edmond Santa Fe running back and Arizona State commit Demarius Robinson said.
For Robinson, he has great memories of playing on grass, but he also has some with turf.
“Growing up I played on grass and I knew really nothing else,” he said. “I would say I prefer grass especially if wet. I’ve managed to get many touchdowns in grass. Although under the right circumstances and conditions, turf has been favorable.
“Turf monsters are real and have taken many teammates’ ACL. Turf is more common nowadays and cleats have adjusted as well, which help with injuries. You even have linemen wearing braces to prevent injuries.”
Bryant is an Edmond Santa Fe alum and played at Western Michigan on the defensive line.
He’s noticed turf fields can be somewhat unforgiving, but he definitely sees the upsides.
“Compared to a grass field, it’s not as soft on the body,” Bryant said. “And landing on it, it can take a toll. That’s why you see it in the news, the NFL Players Association doesn’t want turf fields in the NFL. But for what we do, it allows us, with minimal maintenance, allows us to have a high-quality surface year-round.”
