Why HS Opted For Black Turf

Statesman Journal (Salem, Ore.), Justin Much

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20130109/COMMUNITIES/301090063/Turf-safety

The rush was on well before football season last fall at West Salem High School, first to raise funds, then to get new turf on the Titan athletic field installed.

The school community beat the deadline and gave the region its first glimpse of black turf. The black coordinates with school colors, but it also provided financial incentive from the company that sold it, FieldTurf.

Major sponsors such as Les Schwab Tire Centers, Roth’s Fresh Markets, Meduri Farms and the West Salem Rotary Club, helped the community raise the funds, while FieldTurf offered WSHS a price break for opting to go black, installing it for about $300,000.

“Black was the color necessary to get a new turf because it made it more affordable,” said Titan Athletic Director Bryan Sutherlin. “There were ancillary benefits to it such as community excitement and school spirit, but for me the primary benefit — and I don’t have statistics to back this at this point — is that our kids and the kids in our community are experiencing a surface that allows them to participate more safely and with less fear of injury.”

Safety first was Sutherlin’s motto.

“That was the purpose of the entire project — better safety for our kids,” he said. “If it reduced the possibility that our kids were going to be injured, I would have agreed to put it in plaid.”

Sutherlin didn’t have to choose plaid or anything else radical. The new turf appeared to achieve the safety objective, according to WSHS athletic trainer Lori Barnes.

Barnes’ preliminary assessment of the Titan’s black turf is that certain types of injuries decreased.

“From looking back at our injuries this past fall sports season with football and soccer, there were not any fractured clavicles this year that occurred at home, nor the shoulder injuries I saw with our old turf,” Barnes noted in an email.

Some injuries outside the relevance of turf still seemed consistent to Barnes.

“The concussions were still about the same,” she said. “(Overall) I know that I did see less injuries as a result of the new turf, whether it was the serious fractures, or your everyday bumps and bruises when comparing to the old turf.”

West Principal Ed John joined Sutherlin in saluting the safety element. John said the overall project and preliminary results proved to be one of 2012’s delights on Titan hill.

“We are excited with the new field,” John said. “I think having the only black field in the nation adds some novelty and the kids really like it.

“We are very appreciative of how our community came together to raise the funds for a new field,” he added.