Some school leaders wary of artificial turf

For $453,665, the school district can choose artificial turf for the stadium field at Wilson’s Mills High School.

But better to make that call now, before construction begins, Brooks Moore, the district’s construction chief, told the school board in June. “Because if you do it upfront, you don’t have to do the sod and the irrigation,” he said, referring to a grass field.

And the district wouldn’t have to pay to remove that sod and irrigation later if the board chose to replace grass with artificial turf.

But the school board wasn’t ready to pull the trigger in favor of an artificial surface.

Michelle Antoine in particular was wary of artificial turf. “A lot of the schools are removing the (artificial) turf fields now because of injuries to student knees and ankles,” she said.

Antoine said she could only guess as to why injuries were happening.  “I don’t know if … the students were coming on with the wrong type of cleats and they’re gripping the turf and blowing out knees and ankles,” she said.

But she did know the National Football League Players Association has asked the league to replace all artificial surfaces with grass.

The players’ union has research on its side. For a 2022 article in the American Journal of Sports Medicine, a team of researchers reviewed 18 studies comparing injuries on grass and artificial turf. They found that “elite-level football athletes may be more predisposed to knee injuries on artificial turf compared with natural grass.”

More broadly, the studies suggested “a higher rate of foot and ankle injuries on artificial turf, both old-generation and new-generation turf, compared with natural grass.”

The stadium at Wilson’s Mills High School would host both football and soccer.

In that case, artificial turf makes sense, said school board member Mike Wooten. “If you’re going to play two sports on it, (artificial) turf is the way to go in terms of turnaround, wear and tear on the field, upkeep, lining it, painting it, those type things,” he said.

Wooten, who referees college football, said he had personally seen no injury differences between the two surfaces. Still, the board needs more information, and he asked for the district’s athletic director to prepare a report.

“I think we need to dig into that a little bit,” Wooten said.

Moore, the construction chief, said the AD would be happy to gather information for the board. But he also noted that the AD favored artificial turf for the Wilson’s Mills stadium.

“He wholeheartedly supports approving this,” Moore said.

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