Stay with the grass?
Exploring the possibility of turf at DA

Vanessa Koo '07

Over one third of our campus' land is devoted to athletic grounds. Our playing fields are worthy of envy, thanks to their scenic quality and the meticulous care provided by our dedicated grounds crew.

However, in recent years, synthetic turf fields have become a worldwide trend, replacing grass fields in sports such as football, soccer, and lacrosse. Perhaps field hockey benefits the most from synthetic grass, since the ball moves faster along the flat surface. A faster-paced game forces players to think more quickly, sharpening their stick skills and game sense.

Turf is used by all Division I colleges and most Division III schools "If we want to prepare girls to play in college, this is the surface they should be playing on," said varsity coach Kimberly Wright.

It's the salient athletic facility for many New England schools, since winter snowfall often disrupts athletics. "The highest need for an alternate playing surface is during spring term," said Athletic Director James Lindsay. "That's when we get flooding on the lower levels and it would be great to have a field that our teams could utilize. It would also be a great benefit to the field hockey program in the fall as well."

It is clear that rival schools are benefiting from access to turf fields. Greenwich Academy, Cushing, and Williston all boast their own fields, while schools such as Hotchkiss and Taft have access to practice on others, These teams with turf seem to have an advantage; it repeatedly shows in their winning records.

"It's hard for us to play Greenwich because we have to play them on turf and we're not used to it- it's a big disadvantage," said three-year varsity field hockey player Jennifer Rowland '07. "It would be an advantage against other teams if we could practice on a turf field."

Bringing turf to Deerfield could also attract more student-athletes. "You know that quote from Field of Dreams, 'If you build it, they will come'? If we had Astroturf, even more blue chip field hockey players would want to come to our school." said Coach Wright.

While the idea of creating a turf field has been discussed, there's no way of telling how soon it will happen. The addition of any new facility involves thorough planning. One such factor is expense.

Another matter is location-where could the new field be built? Ideas such as building a field encompassing the track (or even atop the new Koch science center!) have been suggested, but again, many things must be taken into consideration before any plans can materialize. "It has to be done within the context of the overall plan of what we're doing for the athletic complex-a framework of a master plan," says Mr. Lindsay. "But certainly an artificial surface would be a great addition to Deerfield."

As published in the October 12, 2005 issue of the Deerfield Scroll, the monthly newspaper of Deerfield Academy.