Blackman football field now covered in artificial turf

Cecil Joyce
Murfreesboro Daily News Journal

It was an image the Blackman community had been awaiting for about a year – artificial turf adorning the Blackman High School football field.

After months of organizing, fundraising and preparation, AstroTurf began installing artificial turf on the field this week, laying the first strips down Tuesday afternoon.

By late Wednesday, all of the inbounds areas and end zones had been covered in turf.

Blackman principal Leisa Justus, athletics director Scott Lawless, football coach Kit Hartsfield and other coaches and administrators watched from the stands as crews worked on the field.

"It was exciting," Justus said. "I guess it was a little overwhelming that after all the hard work the parents and the committee we had working on this, we finally got a visual on it. It was a good day."

Blackman was given the OK to pursue fundraising in April 2018 and was given approval in November to begin the installation.

Groundbreaking and work to begin preparing the field began in late January, and the school was hopeful the turf would be completely installed by early spring.

The turf is pulled into place.

Despite a month of undesirable weather conditions, the plan is still not far off the original schedule. 

While the football field is now almost completely covered in turf, there's still quite a bit to do before the field will be ready for competition.

There is about a week and a half to two weeks left of work, including adding thousands of pounds of sand (for weight) and rubber (for cushion) to the turf. Logos and advertisements also will have to be added.

But getting the initial installation done was a welcomed sight.

"It was a relief just to see it come down," said Blackman assistant football coach John McCreery, who has been at the school since it opened in 2000 and was one of the major cogs in promoting and developing the idea for artificial turf. "It's hard to believe we're here and have gotten this far with it. Just seeing (the turf) come off the truck was exciting."

The new field should be in use by mid- to late April.

Many teachers, coaches, students and administrators have been eager to take a sneak peak at the progress.

"The coaches, students, staff ... there's a tremendous amount of pride in our building right now," Lawless said. "They're all looking forward to it. We're all excited to see the finished product."

The field will be the typical green from end zone to end zone with white numbers outlined in orange. The end zones will have blue turf.

Barring any delays, teams should be able to begin using the field by mid- to late April. That includes spring practice for the Blaze football team, which begins in late April.

Reach Cecil Joyce at cjoyce@dnj.com or 615-278-5168 and on Twitter @Cecil_Joyce.

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