Artificial Turf Taking Over High School Football Fields
Artificial turf used to be something that only NFL teams and professional soccer clubs had the budget to invest in. Now, artificial turf is becoming more and more common at local high school football fields. Last year, Clark County School District (CCSD) installed artificial turf at more than a dozen football fields in an effort to cut back on water use. The turf is expected to save millions of gallons of water—an impressive 1.3 billion gallons over its lifetime.
The Pros of Artificial Turf:
In addition to saving millions of gallons of water, artificial turf also benefits high school teams. For one thing, it’s much easier to maintain than traditional grass fields. Maintenance staff can focus their time and energy on other tasks. Because it doesn’t require as much watering or mowing, artificial turf can help athletic departments save money over time. When you consider that the majority of the field replacements were funded through government service tax revenue it just makes sense.
The Cons of Artificial Turf:
No doubt there are many advantages to installing artificial turf at local high schools, but there are some downsides as well. According to Rich Muraco, athletic director and head football coach at Liberty High School, “It is super-hot in the summertime on the turf.” This means that players must wear proper footwear and clothing during practices and games in order to avoid abrasions and brush burns—something they wouldn’t have to worry about with natural grass fields. Some studies suggest that playing on artificial turf increases athletes’ risk of sustaining certain types of injuries due to its hard surface and let’s not forget about the ‘Turf monster’.
All things considered, artificial turf has both pros and cons when it comes to being used as a playing surface for high school sports teams. But the way the water shortage is going here in Vegas we have to try everything we can to try to preserve as much water as possible.
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