As the executive director of the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Ultimate League Society, its an understatement to say Craig Woods runs around. Having played and watched about as much ultimate as a field has blades of grass, hes reached several conclusions on those blades and the differences between authentic made-as-mother-nature-intended and the polyurethane-blended synthetic simulation.
His main point is this: synthetic turf fields have an important place but they cant replicate natural grass. He even pointed out that visiting Premier League team Manchester City stipulated it play on a grass pitchnot the artificial turf installed at Empire Field. At a cost of $200,000, the Whitecaps put in grass and then were nearly rained out when a summer downpour destroyed the field and caused the cancellation of a regular MLS match.
But what a treat. Compared to the otherwise sterile stadium, the hectares of grass rendered Empire Field fragrant and smelling alive, lush, luxuriant. And muddy. (One well-respected soccer blogger even speculated that David Beckham scuttled his trip to Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»to avoid playing on the Caps plastic pitch. But his wife did just have a baby.)
Woods laid out the pros and con of both surfaces. Synturf fields provide increased capacity and have some advantages over grass fields, but grass fields have advantages over synturf, too. The 'best' field is a high quality grass field, but usage of grass can be limited in wet weather or dark winter months, so that's where synturf fields help the most.
Taking a break from a July vacation, he outlined his points on grass fields and artificial turf surfaces, which he calls synturf, to the Courier. Heres what he sent:
The advantages of natural grass for ultimate:
* Ultimate often involves laying out (diving) for the disk. Players don't slide on synturf like they do on grass, and the rubber pellets cause road rash.
* Many ultimate players, especially older ones, report increased soreness after playing on synturf. Some of our elite teams (those who compete at national championships), would much rather practise on an average grass field than synturf. Why is this? Ultimate involves a lot of cutting (sharp turns), and our theory is that cleats grip more tightly on synturf than grass, thus causing increased strain on tendons and ligaments. Some players report less soreness if they use footwear designed for synturf (with shorter cleats), but this is anecdotal. I do note that the Whitecaps installed a temporary grass field over top of the synturf at Empire Stadium for their game against Manchester City last week; most elite soccer teams much prefer grass as well.
The advantages of synthetic grass for ultimate:
* The surface is perfectly level. Ultimate players are often looking up for the disc (like a football receiver), so they can stumble or even injure themselves on an uneven grass field.
* The field can be used in all types of weather. Ultimate's main season is in the summer, but we also play through the wet fall and winter months, too.
* Injuries can occur on grass and synturf; they are just different. Because synturf doesn't give like grass, this can lead to injuries. But uneven grass surfaces (e.g. rolling ground, holes from dogs) can cause injuries as well. On both field types, you can have minor and serious injuries, depending on the quality of the field.
