by Cliff  Mehrtens

HUNTERSVILLE – SouthLake Christian Academy’s new artificial turf field is nearly completed.The renovation project has taken most of the winter and spring, and is the centerpiece in the revamping of the school’s athletic facilities.

“It is finished,” said Joe Haney, SouthLake Christian’s athletic director. “The turf’s rubberized pellets have been added. It’s not quite ready to practice or have games on it, but it’s very close.”

SouthLake Christian’s new field will require less maintenance than a grass field and can withstand heavier use. No longer is there grass to plant, water or cut. It will be home to the Eagles’ football, soccer and lacrosse teams, along with summer youth football programs.

“There’s a real buzz about it,” Haney said. “It’s exciting, especially for the parents who have younger students who might not be on varsity teams right now. It’s a nice enhancement.” The school’s Eagle logo stretches from one 45-yard line to the other. SouthLake Christian joins Hough and Mooresville as lake-area schools with artificial turf fields.

During the installation, SouthLake Christian’s spring teams were spread hither and yon for practices and home games. Baseball went to East Lincoln Optimist Park in Denver. Softball was played mostly at Torrence Chapel Park in Cornelius. Girls soccer is at Richard Barry Park in Huntersville. The boys lacrosse team play at Castanea Presbyterian Church in Stanley.

“We had great cooperation from the parks and recreation departments and the Optimist Club,” Haney said. “The parents did a great job working with us and getting players to where they needed to be and our opponents were cooperative. I think everyone understood the situation.”

SouthLake Christian also will relocate its softball and baseball fields. The softball field will switch to where the baseball field was, next to the football stadium and adjacent to N.C. 73. The new baseball field will be moved to nearby Hagers Ferry Road, site of the former football practice field. Those fields hopefully will be completed in time for next spring, Haney said.

The new turf field will be accompanied by a new field house, which will house locker rooms, a training room and weight-training facilities. That’s scheduled to be completed by the fall.

SouthLake Christian’s athletic renovation will also include a new gym, but that’s two or three years away, Haney said. It will provide a new home and more space for the Eagles’ basketball, volleyball and wrestling teams. There also are plans for new educational buildings that will house classrooms.

The cost of the projects wasn’t disclosed.

“It was a school-wide effort,” Haney said. “We got a lot of support from a lot of people.”

SouthLake Christian is a private school with students in kindergarten through 12^th grade. It opened in 1994 and has grown to include 38 middle school, junior varsity and varsity high school teams.

A new artificial turf field and redesigned track are scheduled to be completed at Francis C. Hammond Middle School by November, a school official said.

The new features were originally planned to be completed by September but were delayed due to an unforeseen redesign of the project’s stormwater management system, said Monika Szczepaniec with the Alexandria City Public Schools’ planning, design and construction office.

Construction on the new field and track began this spring, Szczepaniec said. There are multiple benefits to the new design, she said, including that artificial turf will allow for longer playing times and easier maintenance.

“Maintenance-wise, you don’t have to have irrigation and as an extensive maintenance on an artificial turf field as you do a natural one,” she said. “So, definitely with the track, if you look at the old site plan, it was irregularly shaped and quite a bumpy little track, and now it will be striped with lanes, so it’s going to be a definite improvement.”

The project is costing about $1.9 million and includes an extensive stormwater management system for the new field and the parking lot behind the school.

Previously, the field was made of natural grass. The new artificial turf field will measure 360 by 185 feet, which is consistent with field dimensions established by the National Federation of State High School Associations and US Lacrosse. The field will be striped for soccer and lacrosse.

The old running track at Francis Hammond has an irregular shape and was shorter than the new asphalt running track, which will be a quarter of a mile long. Exercise equipment that was already located at the field will stay, but the mulch underneath will be replaced by a rubberized surface.

There will be a fence around the field, but not the track. The use of the field will be regulated by the City of Alexandria Recreation, Parks and Cultural Affairs Division outside of school hours. The track will remain open for public to use at all times, except for during school hours. The field will not include lighting, Szczepaniec said.

The project is being funded through the city as part of ACPS’ Capital Improvement Program. The school is located at 4646 Seminary Rd.

Edgar Banuelos of Philadelphia, a worker with Sports Construction Management, stitches two pieces of AstroTurf together along the goal line Thursday at Fayetteville High School’s Harmon Field. The improvement, which includes site work to expand the surface and remove a portion of the former track, cost $682,000.

Posted: July 13, 2012

KENTUCKY COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL READY FOR INSTALLATION OF NEW ASTROTURF FIELD
(LOUISVILLE, Kentucky) – Building an elite field hockey and lacrosse program is one step closer to reality for Kentucky Country Day School (KCD) in Louisville.

The installation of an all-new AstroTurf field will be completed this summer, just in time for the upcoming field hockey season. It will also play a huge role next spring as Pat McAnulty’s Lady Bearcats lacrosse team goes after their fourth state championship in the last six years.

“Getting this new AstroTurf field is a gigantic step for our athletic programs,” said McAnulty. “We’ve achieved a high level of success and this field will help build our program and help it remain successful for years to come.”

Amy Charasika, Head Field Hockey Coach and Assistant Athletic Director, said the field is being installed for three major reasons.

“First, this will help with the advancement of the program because it allows our players to prepare to play at elite levels,” said Charasika. “Second, it’s a matter of convenience. We don’t have to worry with inclement weather and the field is ready to go all the time. Third, it’s a huge recruiting tool.”

Charasika said it also provides an added financial benefit since the field does not require recovery time from extended use, they will be able to rent it out to local club sports teams for their use. She also said that the field will see use by the boys’ lacrosse and boys’ soccer teams.

“This allows us to take our already strong athletic programs to a higher level,” said Brad Lyman, Head of School at KCD. “It also allows us to provide the same quality facilities in athletics that we have in other areas such as the upper school and the new fine arts center. It adds to the quality of the overall experience of our students.”

Charasika said officials at KCD looked at three different companies and visited fields in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Missouri, and Tennessee.

“AstroTurf was definitely the right choice for us,” said Charasika. “We felt like it was the best product for our needs and we felt a level of trust with the company and its people.”

At first, she expressed concern about using an infilled system for field hockey because of the rubber splash, and the need for a level, consistent playing field. She was sold on the system after seeing the field at the McCallie School in Tennessee.
“I loved the feel,” she said. “The RootZone gives better fiber density and encapsulates the infill so there is no splash. The slit film also makes it a faster surface.”

The new surface is the AstroTurf GameDay Grass 3D52X, the most advanced in the synthetic turf industry.

The surface contains the AstroTurf XP fiber. XP is a slit-film product which offers better infill encapsulation, best resistance to wear, and greater pile density. The product also features texturized RootZone. RootZone is a fiber which acts as a thatch layer, creating minimal rubber splash, uniform energy return, and better shock absorbency, while encapsulating the infill and reducing migration.

The field also has a face weight of 52 ounces of fiber per square yard, one of the highest in the industry. This adds to the durability provided by the fiber shape.

“Kentucky Country Day is a great school with a great athletic program,” said Pat Davidson, AstroTurf Regional Sales Manager. “They’re getting the best product on the market and we’re proud to be a part of that tradition.”

The field hockey and girls’ lacrosse team just hope the process of installing the field is fast so they can get on it and be on their way to championship seasons.

Sports Construction Management is handling the construction of the base and installation of the turf, which will be completed by mid-August.