The use of artificial turf fields has become more widespread throughout athletics, especially in MCPS, as some high schools in the county now have them.
“Turf fields are overall better quality and you don’t have to worry about current or previous rain canceling the game,” Wootton High School senior Molly Gleicher said.
While turf fields have numerous benefits to athletes and schools that use them, they also have serious flaws. Multiple athletes have gotten injured from the roughness of turf, and they are quite expensive to install.
According to the MCPS website, some of the reasons why MCPS has chosen to implement turf fields in as many high schools as possible—currently installed in six out of the 25 MCPS high schools—is that they create a greater degree of equity between high schools, decrease off-campus needs, make larger opportunities for school groups and teams, provide high quality professional-level playing fields, provide safe year round use under most weather conditions, are pesticide free and save water.
One of a turf field’s biggest flaws is its cost. Over the summer in 2018, MCPS Superintendent Jack Smith ordered a new artificial turf field for Richard Montgomery High School at a price of 562,721 dollars. If MCPS had not spent that money on the turf field, it could have been used for a number of other things. Turf also needs to be replaced every ten years, so MCPS will need to spend about half a million for turf fields every ten years.
Another flaw of turf fields are the health concerns it presents. According to The Washington Post, health experts are constantly advocating that although turf fields no longer use a crumb tire infill, plant derived alternatives still have high risks of kids being exposed to MRSA (a serious skin infection) and absorbed heat.
“A nice, quality grass field takes a lot of work, manpower and money to maintain. In theory, a turf field should require less maintenance if everything is installed properly from the beginning,” Richard Montgomery High School athletic director Johnathan Freda said.
There is a noticeable difference between turf and grass fields, however.
“Lacrosse on grass is more fun but less productive. I only play grass fields for lacrosse for my club team, so that’s what I prefer,” Bullis High School senior Olivia Kazanjian said. However, it’s a lot easier for ground balls on turf.”
While some athletes believe that these fields will be easier to play on, they come with health risks and a large cost. However, with a maintenance plan in place, turf should be easier to take care of and better in the long run than grass.
Article by Megan Harrington of Richard Montgomery High School
Photo by Valerie Wang of Richard Montgomery High School