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Monday, August 11, 2003 (SF Chronicle)
Modern artificial surfaces not as hard as in old days/Synthetic fields now more
grass-like than old AstroTurf
Diana Walsh, Chronicle Staff Writer


New fields of dreams are sprouting up in parks and schools around the Bay
Area -- where the grass is greener, the balls bounce truer, and the games
never get rained out.
Cities and schools are installing a new generation of synthetic turf on
high-use sports fields as a way to maximize playing time and minimize
maintenance. This is not your father's AstroTurf.
The new artificial surfaces have the look -- but not the smell -- of
grass.
"It's just about as close to perfect as can be," Phil Ramirez, a 17-year-
old soccer player, said as he stood on the synthetic field at Carlmont
High School in Belmont. "It doesn't have all the grass bumps -- it's
really smooth."
The old version of AstroTurf -- widely despised by athletes -- was made
from nylon fiber placed upon hard concrete surfaces. It resembled indoor-
outdoor carpeting and left many users with painful "turf burns." The new
synthetic turf is made from two-inch-long smooth polyethylene fiber
blades, which are surrounded by small ground-up rubber fragments and
sometimes sand.
Those are placed on top of a rubber pad, which in turn sits on layers of
small and large stones to allow for quick drainage. The combination
provides a softer, cushion-like surface that's easy on the feet and
forgiving to falls, but leaves the air smelling a little like rubber.
Although it tends to get hotter than natural grass, it doesn't have any of
grass' pitfalls like gopher holes, sprinkler heads or mud puddles.
Ed Berry, who coaches freshman football at San Mateo's Serra High, which
is installing artificial turf this summer, says that while he loves grass,
he likes the way players can move on the faux turf.
"This is much nicer. It gives a lot more," Berry said while playing catch
with his two sons at the football field at Carlmont. "Traction is the most
important, and this gives a lot of traction."
Ramirez, who like many kids in an era of cash-strapped cities and schools
has played soccer on pitted and rutted grass fields for years, says he
feels free on the turf.
"I'm less cautious when I play on it," he said. "I don't have to worry
about twisting my ankle or hitting a rock. It's no-worries playing."
INSTALLED AT UC BERKELEY
Many local high schools and colleges, including UC Berkeley's Memorial
Stadium, have been installing the new turf for the past five years. More
recently, Bay Area cities with fields crowded with soccer players are now
embracing the new playing surface for their parks.
Adding to the trend, many cities and schools are allowed to use voter-
approved capital improvement bonds to fund such fields, but not to pay for
the maintenance required to keep up traditional grass.
Santa Clara and Daly City are among the Bay Area cities installing new
synthetic fields this summer, while San Carlos officials are considering
putting in the turf at two fields.
Although the cost to install synthetic fields is dramatically higher than
natural grass -- sometimes $300,000 to $400,000 more than the cost of
grass -- the drop in maintenance can make it cost efficient.
Two synthetic fields in San Carlos would cost an estimated $1.8 million,
but Parks and Recreation Director Barry Weiss estimates the city will save
$659,000 over the next 10 years on staff and maintenance. The current cost
to water the natural grass the city is considering replacing is $25,000 a
year.
If the city installs the fake grass, Weiss estimates that San Carlos will
be able to provide more than 1,000 additional hours of playing time -- the
equivalent of another soccer field -- because the city will not have to
shut down the fields for either bad weather or annual reseeding and
maintenance, which lasts six weeks every year.
FAST-DRAINING MATERIAL
The new turf "drains 33 inches per hour," Weiss said. "The last time we
had that much rain, Noah was putting animals in the ark."
Artificial surfaces have always been more popular in inclement weather
areas like the Pacific Northwest and the East Coast. In California, where
the sun shines nearly year-round and "green" is a way of life, "artificial
grass" seemed like an oxymoron. But synthetic grass, which requires only a
little water for cleaning and no toxic fertilizers, is marketed as an
environmentally smart alternative.
"Artificial things had been looked at as undesirable. Now they are looked
at as environmental," said Devin Conway, an associate at Beals Sports of
San Jose, which designs sports fields. "The last two years, it's really
gained a foothold."
Conway, whose company designs sports fields for cities, schools and sports
franchises, says about half of all installations are now using synthetic
grasses.
And officials in local cities say it may be the only way to keep up with
the growing demands of youth soccer and other field sports.
Gary Hover, superintendent of Redwood City's parks and recreation
department, says despite Herculean efforts to have well-maintained fields,
there is nothing city crews can do to keep up with the wear and tear on
heavily used grass fields.
"We'd have a beautiful field when they started the soccer season, and
within six weeks it would revert back," said Hover. "I called it natural
dirt with some grass."
So last year, the parks and recreation department, which maintains the
public school fields as well as city parks, installed synthetic grass at
Hoover Park and have plans under way to install another field at Fair Oaks
Elementary School. Hover says the new field at Hoover Park has been hugely
popular, used by hundreds of people on weekends.
"I've gone by on evenings and every square foot is being used," said
Hover, adding that no grass field could stand up to that kind of wear.
LESS MAINTENANCE TIME
"You can play on it 24/7 or in a monsoon, and it won't hurt it," said
Hover.
"We were spending four or five days on maintenance. Now it's nil. We pick
up trash, and that's it."
And the fear of injury that came with the earlier generation of artificial
turf seems to have largely evaporated.
Patrick Singh, who maintains the synthetic field at Burlingame High
School, says there have been far fewer athletes with injuries since they
installed fake grass three years ago.
No one believes the new faux field trend will leave local cities without
any grass to mow. But having just a few fields made out of synthetic grass
can greatly relieve the stress on natural grass fields. The city of Santa
Clara will open a competition-caliber set of soccer fields later this
month. The complex will include three fields, only one made out of
synthetic fibers. That field will allow the two natural grass fields the
time to recover after heavy use periods, says George Friedenbach, parks
superintendent of the city of Santa Clara.
Farther north, the city of Palo Alto has plans to install one or two
artificial turf fields in the next 18 months and is considering four more
for a soccer center currently in the planning stages.
"The kids in our community are playing on every blade of grass in town,"
said Paul Dias, who heads the parks and golf department for Palo Alto.
"They are wearing are parks out in the process. With artificial turf we
can stretch our fields a little bit more and accommodate more kids."
E-mail Diana Walsh at dwalsh@....
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Copyright 2003 SF Chronicle