The latest and greatest in artificial grass is on exhibit at Grossmont College where the two-year school recently installed FieldTurf at its football field in El Cajon.
The new-fangled turf is a vast improvement on the former AstroTurf surface that had been installed in the 1960s and has been wearing thin over the past decade, said Bobby Thompson, the college’s athletic director.
“It didn’t take long to realize the tremendous advantages behind FieldTurf: low maintenance, its ability to handle as much as 30 inches of rain in a 24-hour period, the safety factor, and also its endurance,” Thompson said.
FieldTurf combines two types of synthetic fibers that are placed in a pattern emulating real grass, and attached to an infill made from graded silica sand and ground rubber from recycled Nike athletic shoes.
Thompson said so far the field has received rave reviews from players who are impressed with its more forgiving surface, and should result in less injuries.
The field, the first of its type installed in the state, cost about $900,000 and is guaranteed for at least 10 years. Its low maintenance requirements was a key factor in its selection by the community college district. All it needs is a “brush out” every two to three weeks to get rid of any wrinkles.
While the field provides a much nicer playing surface for the Grossmont Griffins’ men’s and women’s athletic teams, it will also become a venue for local recreational sports leagues next year, Thompson said.
“We are in the process of developing a fee schedule for the use of the facility,” he said. “The plan is by next summer to open it up for community use.”
