Astro Turf Fields

Hello Readers,

I recently talked to the Assistant Principal and Head Football Coach at Cienega High School, Nemer Hassey about their astro Turf field.
We discussed the pros and cons of the new field and difference between grass and the astro turf.
"There are not too many cons to the field, the only thing that I would say is that when the sun is directly over it it gets really hot," said Hassey. "But towards the afternoon it does okay but that's probably the only negative is that it can get hot other than that there is nothing else negative about it."
The Cienega Football field was constructed in the summer of 2006 and currently is the home to the Bobcats football team as well as the soccer team. Before the field was built, Cienega had a grass field that seemed to be more of a problem then a home field advantage.
"Safety was one reason why we changed the field, we had a very hard field and we couldn't even grow grass on it , it was a very, very poor field, " said Hassey. "We ended up putting a lot of money into the old field with fertilizer and water and it was still below average."
After the field was built, Hassey realized that the new field was saving them a lot of money in utilities because the astro turf field does not require the maintenance that grass fields do.
Hassey estimated that the water, labor, fertilizer, and paint to create the lines on the old field was costing Cienega around $65,000 a each year while the new field costs a one time amount of 600,000. Hassey said that due to no maintenance the new field will pay for itself over time and Cienega will always have a nice field to play on.
Also, with the old field no other sports could use the field because they would have to save it for football games but now anyone can use it anytime.
The whole construction of the field only took two months and Hassey thinks the future of high school football fields will be astro turf because of the water, maintenance and money schools would save.
"I think astro turf fields will be the new trend in Tucson," said Hassey. "I think it will take some time but I think schools will start moving toward astro turf fields."
When looking at astro turf fields it is hard to imagine why other school wouldn't change to astro turf at some point. Recently, Tucson High School built a new astro turf field for their football team.
In the age of the green movement, astro turf fields are much more reliable and costs schools less in the long run especially in terms of utilities.