In the evolving world of football, the debate between tradition and innovation has taken a new turn. With half of the National Football League (NFL) stadiums switching to artificial turf and the other half sticking to natural or hybrid grass, conversation about player safety and performance on the artificial turf has increased. According to Athletics Director Jim Inskeep, CHS has utilized artificial turf since 2005, replacing the turf in nine-year increments.

As CHS undergoes its third turf generation, Inskeep said this school switched to artificial turf to maximize the use of the facility.

Inskeep said, “When we had grass at the facilities, we could only really use it so many times during the year before it became unusable. You know, when you have marching band, football, physical education and all the other things that are going on out there, it just wasn’t a very good investment of the facility to only use it so many days during the year.”

Additionally, Inskeep said the advancements in turf technology have substantially increased over the years.

“Each generation is getting a little better,” Inskeep said. “We found from the first generation to the second generation, it was not as abrasive the second time around.That first one tended to give a lot more of the, kind of what I’d almost call, like rug burn on knees and elbows. We also found that drainage wasn’t necessarily as great as we had expected on the first version in 2005. When we would get heavy rainstorms, we found ourselves squeegeeing parts of the field because the drainage wasn’t as good as it should have been. This year, when we replaced the field from 2014, we found that for most of these fields, they tend to get better. As they get better, the usage of the fields gets used more by lots of different groups.”

Nick Kelley, football player and junior, said the turf change in 2023 was good.

Kelley said, “I like the new changes to the stadium and the field. It makes our games better and the cuts are better on the turf because the grass is taller than the last field we had.”

Inskeep said the new turf helps footing become easier.

Inskeep said, “You don’t see as much of the abrasive nature that you see on a field that’s been around for a while as those fibers break down. I always think that it’s a little more susceptible to those types of abrasions over the years. You usually don’t see that as much when the new field is sitting in those first few years.”

Overall, Inskeep said, “In the future, we will continue to use turf. I don’t see us moving back to grass anytime soon.”