COVINGTON FOOTBALL - ARTIFICIAL TURF PLANNED

[CHARGERFAN]

The Covington Leader has announced that Tipton County plans to install artificial turf at all three county high school fields by 2022.

https://covingtonleader.com/sports/brighton-covington-and-munford-football-could-have-artificial-turf-fields-by-2022/

This will be great news for Covington (as well as Munford and Brighton). Although Covington has traditionally had a very nice natural sod field, I have seen that same field turn into a mudhole late in the fall when we had playoff games there after heavy fall rains. I particularly remember when Stratford came to town a couple of years ago in the semi-finals. Pigs would have loved the mud on the field that night. 

Then too, Covington has played in the Championship football game in Cookeville several times recently. In order to prepare for playing on artificial turf at Tenn Tech, our coaching staff has had to plan practices at several locations to get our players ready for that different surface.

As a Charger fan, I'm truly excited about this. So, BPM, we will be joining Milan in playing on the plastic grass. You guys were just a couple of years ahead of us.  

[stacmot]

3 hours ago, CHARGERFAN said:

The Covington Leader has announced that Tipton County plans to install artificial turf at all three county high school fields by 2022.

https://covingtonleader.com/sports/brighton-covington-and-munford-football-could-have-artificial-turf-fields-by-2022/

This will be great news for Covington (as well as Munford and Brighton). Although Covington has traditionally had a very nice natural sod field, I have seen that same field turn into a mudhole late in the fall when we had playoff games there after heavy fall rains. I particularly remember when Stratford came to town a couple of years ago in the semi-finals. Pigs would have loved the mud on the field that night. 

Then too, Covington has played in the Championship football game in Cookeville several times recently. In order to prepare for playing on artificial turf at Tenn Tech, our coaching staff has had to plan practices at several locations to get our players ready for that different surface.

As a Charger fan, I'm truly excited about this. So, BPM, we will be joining Milan in playing on the plastic grass. You guys were just a couple of years ahead of us.  

Congratulations!  I'm happy for the Chargers, but i'm also jealous.

[TryNotToSuck]

I could be wrong, we're now up to 8 teams in West Tennessee with turf. Westview is excluded from the list.

[BIGPURPLEMACHINE]

18 hours ago, CHARGERFAN said:

The Covington Leader has announced that Tipton County plans to install artificial turf at all three county high school fields by 2022.

https://covingtonleader.com/sports/brighton-covington-and-munford-football-could-have-artificial-turf-fields-by-2022/

This will be great news for Covington (as well as Munford and Brighton). Although Covington has traditionally had a very nice natural sod field, I have seen that same field turn into a mudhole late in the fall when we had playoff games there after heavy fall rains. I particularly remember when Stratford came to town a couple of years ago in the semi-finals. Pigs would have loved the mud on the field that night. 

Then too, Covington has played in the Championship football game in Cookeville several times recently. In order to prepare for playing on artificial turf at Tenn Tech, our coaching staff has had to plan practices at several locations to get our players ready for that different surface.

As a Charger fan, I'm truly excited about this. So, BPM, we will be joining Milan in playing on the plastic grass. You guys were just a couple of years ahead of us.  

I heard this thru the grapevine about Wednesday of last week. Very happy for you guys. Will be great for the kids in your community!!

Edited April 11, 2021 by BIGPURPLEMACHINE

[BIGPURPLEMACHINE]

6 hours ago, TryNotToSuck said:

I could be wrong, we're now up to 8 teams in West Tennessee with turf. Westview is excluded from the list.

You are correct sir. 

[fredjones]

Rutherford county folks will be jealous.

[ItsAlwaysSunnyInAtwood]

Good for those 3 teams in Tipton Co. Some great football tradition down that way. 

[ManOfMillions]

It seems that everyone that way is excited about it. I am happy for you if that is what you want. I'm just not a fan. Be on the lookout for more ACL tears, and lower leg injuries. 

 

A 2019 study by Cleveland-based University Hospitals featured data from 26 high school trainers during the 2017-2018 athletic season who reported 953 injuries: 368 were on natural grass, while 585 were on synthetic turf.

[CHARGERFAN]

7 hours ago, ManOfMillions said:

It seems that everyone that way is excited about it. I am happy for you if that is what you want. I'm just not a fan. Be on the lookout for more ACL tears, and lower leg injuries. 

 

A 2019 study by Cleveland-based University Hospitals featured data from 26 high school trainers during the 2017-2018 athletic season who reported 953 injuries: 368 were on natural grass, while 585 were on synthetic turf.

Yeah, and as Aesop’s Fable said “Those grapes were probably sour anyway.” It least that was my first thought when I read your post. 
 

I know that might be an issue, but there are so many positives that we are willing to take that chance. I know that I was impressed when we played at Melrose a couple of years ago, and they had a nice turf field. The football coaches have to love the extra time they can spend with their families instead of mowing, fertilizing, painting, etc.

Still, if y’all don’t favor turf, then SGC should stay away from it. Nevertheless, you will have to play on it at places like Milan.

 

[District12AA]

9 hours ago, ManOfMillions said:

It seems that everyone that way is excited about it. I am happy for you if that is what you want. I'm just not a fan. Be on the lookout for more ACL tears, and lower leg injuries. 

 

A 2019 study by Cleveland-based University Hospitals featured data from 26 high school trainers during the 2017-2018 athletic season who reported 953 injuries: 368 were on natural grass, while 585 were on synthetic turf.

Well we need to study the study. How many games were on artificial turf vs natural grass. What were weather conditions during the games? You can make stats say whatever you want them to.

[ManOfMillions]

2 hours ago, CHARGERFAN said:

Yeah, and as Aesop’s Fable said “Those grapes were probably sour anyway.” It least that was my first thought when I read your post. 
 

I know that might be an issue, but there are so many positives that we are willing to take that chance. I know that I was impressed when we played at Melrose a couple of years ago, and they had a nice turf field. The football coaches have to love the extra time they can spend with their families instead of mowing, fertilizing, painting, etc.

Still, if y’all don’t favor turf, then SGC should stay away from it. Nevertheless, you will have to play on it at places like Milan.

 

I completely understand both sides of the argument. I am just personally not a fan. There still is maintenance that has to be performed on the turf and the cost to have it installed is expensive. If turf is what Covington wants, I am happy for y'all. Just simply sharing my thoughts about the injuries, expense, it is not maintenance free... 

SGC coaches do not have to paint the field or the mascot each week. We have a group of parents ( that are totally awesome! ) that volunteer to do it every week that we play on the field. We really need 2 fields to play on honestly. Our field gets abused during the fall....

Not taking a stab, I promise. Just sharing my thoughts. 

[ManOfMillions]

1 hour ago, District12AA said:

Well we need to study the study. How many games were on artificial turf vs natural grass. What were weather conditions during the games? You can make stats say whatever you want them to.

Study away! I just did a simply google search to find that info. I remember reading about several years ago. The reason I remembered it is because there was a big push to have installed at Neyland stadium several years ago.... There was the turf crowd, and the grass crowd. This is like most everything now. We must crowd everything! I think that is ridiculous, personally, but that is just the way it is. I am sure there are some better sources with real data out there. Also, I have noticed that several colleges, and universities that had turf installed at one point or another in the past have taken it up and gone back with a natural playing surface.  

 

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/aug/02/turf-it-out-is-it-time-to-say-goodbye-to-artificial-grass

 

This article is from a few years ago. I thought it was pretty well written. 

Edited April 13, 2021 by ManOfMillions