The Death of a Legendary Turf
A sample of the new turf is available in the athletic department with additional access to other turf resources.
Aspen High School athletics is sad to announce the death of the legendary turf. It lived a long life of 13 years with many wins and memories; however, it will now be replaced…yes, replaced. The athletic department is ecstatic as the replacement will be a significant upgrade and will serve many more benefits to AHS athletics.
The turf was torn apart on May 22nd, and the new one is being constructed throughout the summer. The hope is that it will be completed by mid-July; however, the due date is August 1st. Fall sports will have a brand new field ready for practice by the 2019/2020 school year.
Martha Richards, the athletic director at AHS, was in charge of researching the best quality turf for the school.
“Since this turf has run its viability for impact it doesn’t help prevent injuries as well as it could,” Richards said. “We are getting the highest quality turf called iron turf, and the fill is engineered by Brock. This is the top of the line turf right now,” Richards said.
Brockturfs, the leading company in best turf quality, is known for its products in many different environments, including school districts.
“We want children and young people to be as safe as possible on our playgrounds and turfs,” Brockturf said.
Not only does this new turf have the best playing surface with safe and healthy additions, but it also long-lasting, sustainable, and environmentally friendly.
“The shook pad has a 25-year warranty so people who aren’t even born yet will be able to go on it. Every kid in the elementary school will be able to play on it and that’s what people have to understand is that it’s not just for the high school, it’s a district project,” Richards said.
Amanda Trendell, the girl’s lacrosse coach and assistant athletic director at AHS, played a major role in figuring out logistics of the turf, as she had a lot of exposure to this from her college coaching experience.
“It is way past due. I saw the same thing during college coaching. We had a 10-13-year-old turf and we were seeing a significant amount of injuries,” Trendell said.
Trendell and the athletic team is extremely excited about the new technology that coincides with the project. An unlimited water source, as well as electricity, will be easily accessible from the turf.
“My high school was one of the first schools to get a turf, but they didn’t do a good job at drainage, so when we would play soccer the ball would just stop from the puddles. A big thing is to have it concave and have drainage underneath and on the sides.”
All AHS athletics, as well as the entire school district, will be facing a new dynamic with safer conditions, longer benefits, and of course, more fun!
“The Island field is new and kids love it so if we have that same esthetic it would be great for our community,” Richards said.
Anonymous • Oct 21, 2019 at 7:17 pm
Has any athletic trainer, coach, parent or student athlete taken an infrared thermometer out to get a synthetic turf surface temperature reading? (And compare with real grass.) Anything surface temp of 120 F or higher or 100 F or higher, depending on weather, should shut down the synthetic turf plastic field. Move to real grass or cancel sports altogether. Corkonut infill from GreenPlay made the same claims as Brockfill about heat, but a plastic field is a plastic field after all. Don’t be fooled! Most temps of synthetic turf fields with corkonut infill at MO schools are 140s, with highest reading 2019 at 156 F! So a plastic field with 20% Brockfill is still going to be hell hot!
http://www.burlington.org/Utilizing%20Artificial%20Turf%20in%20the%20Heat.pdf
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IdYWiBbLRy0d60umCgBElA1tW-bsWDGH/view?usp=drivesdk
Infrared thermometers are around $20 at Walmart, Lowe’s, Home Depot or Amazon. Around April-September synthetic turf is too hot! And Wet Bulb Globe Thermometers are a junk tool. After Jordan McNair at UMD died of heat stroke on synthetic turf, there was an investigation 2 months after. They found that WBGT was keeping athletes playing in heat index of 116 F! Here’s more on why infrared is most accurate.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02656736.2019.1605096?scroll=top&needAccess=true
Search Jordan McNair, Patrick Clancy, 37 band members John Marshall High in WV, 9 players Granger High School in OK, and more. Heat stroke death and heat stroke on synthetic turf. Insane!
Anonymous • Oct 21, 2019 at 6:56 pm
So sad! When so many teams and universities (NFL Baltimore Ravens, 2 future NFL stadiums, Michigan State Univ., Univ. of Mississippi, Univ. of Arkansas) are switching back to real grass, why can’t high schools give their athletes real grass? Synthetic turf is too hot, hard and toxic. Brockfill uses 80% silica sand (which contains crystalline silica) and 20% Brockfill. Crystalline silica is a highly documented carcinogen. By Brock’s own admission, the synthetic turf reaches 120 F and higher, which causes fields to shut down! Synthetic turf heat stroke death and heat stroke with complications are all over the news. Athletes post their 2nd-3rd degree burns where skin is falling off, on Twitter. New studies out showing much higher rates of high school concussions on synthetic turf, higher ACL and PCL injuries as well. Real athletes deserve real grass. So many athletes fight for real grass, including U.S. women’s soccer, NFL players like Roethlisberger and even Tom Brady wants their synthetic turf ripped up and replaced with real grass! The Patriots have had 6 synthetic turf plastic carpets in 10 years. Synthetic turf plastic carpets contain a forever chemical that leaches, called PFAS. Also they are sprayed with many chemicals and flame retardants to combat the blood, sweat, spit, blood, vomit and animal feces, gum, oil, grease, fungus and static. And we haven’t even gotten to the plastic pollution! Synthetic turf plastic carpets are landfilled, dumped or burned. There is no recycling. Some is resold, but then ends up landfilled, burned or dumped. Synthetic turf plastic carpet also emits greenhouse gases. They are heat islands causing so much damage to athletes and the environment. #turnoffthetap #realgrassforrealathletes #grasscantakemore