Field Turf in SWVA

[ImFromOutEast 14]

What high school football stadiums in SWVA have field turf? Out this way none of the Class 1 schools have it nor does Class 2 King William. Go up north in the Fredericksburg area, King George has it as do every school in Spotsylvania County (All Class 4 I do believe). I know there are pros and cons about it. A former coach in these parts didn't like to play @ King George because he said his players would usually come away with more injuries than typically seen playing on a grass field. I saw one talented freshman RB suffer a knee injury @ KG that forced him to miss the remainder of the season.

[Wolf1207 239]

16 minutes ago, ImFromOutEast said:

What high school football stadiums in SWVA have field turf? Out this way none of the Class 1 schools have it nor does Class 2 King William. Go up north in the Fredericksburg area, King George has it as do every school in Spotsylvania County (All Class 4 I do believe). I know there are pros and cons about it. A former coach in these parts didn't like to play @ King George because he said his players would usually come away with more injuries than typically seen playing on a grass field. I saw one talented freshman RB suffer a knee injury @ KG that forced him to miss the remainder of the season.

Most of the newer schools around here have it.  It comes down to cost.  Most schools won’t have to replace it for 20 years supposedly.  I have my doubts about that looking at how the turf at Ridgeview has faded.  Most if not all the 1A schools all play on grass. 

[SwvaOG 602]

Ridgeview has it and it is still in good shape structurally.  Richlands has it and was the first in the region or one of the first.  It’s in pretty bad shape and is scheduled to be replaced soon.  Honaker has it and it is still in good shape.  Mitchell stadium has it as does Central’s field.

In 2D in M7 the following are all grass: Battle, Lee, Abingdon, Union and Gate City.  In the SWD Tazewell, Marion, Virginia High and Lebanon are all grass with Richlands and Graham playing on turf.

[sixcat 2,922]

Galax has had turf since 2017. Grayson County just installed it this spring/summer. Carroll County School Board has reportedly approved it but it hasn’t been installed yet. 

[Stelley 57]

8 hours ago, Wolf1207 said:

Most of the newer schools around here have it.  It comes down to cost.  Most schools won’t have to replace it for 20 years supposedly.  I have my doubts about that looking at how the turf at Ridgeview has faded.  Most if not all the 1A schools all play on grass. 

Honaker is the only one I’m pretty sure

[stu_bean 1,058]

Actual schools, Honaker was first then followed by Richlands.  Central and Ridgeview built their new schools and put turf down.  Mitchell stadium that is owned by the City of Bluefield put in turf years ago since Graham and Bluefield both use it.  Was a little rough after they took snowplows to it a few years back.  Think it was just replaced if I remember right.  Now it has two high schools and two colleges playing games on it.  Hunnicut stadium in Priinceton WV also has turf.

[tornado99 345]

I don’t remember the details, but Honaker and Richlands, first and second respectively, were likely a couple of the earliest in the area. Both of them were facilitated by local business EMATS, which is located at Claypool Hill. At the time, I believe the owner had a son playing for Honaker. They sponsored a game and trophy called the Clinch River Classic for several years. Due to those factors, I’m certain the cost was likely much lower to install due to donations of time and labor, but not sure of replacement. 
 

I’m not certain of long term ramifications. I touched on it in another post where sixcat referred to a ton of research via google that is often funded by opposite sides. I don’t know of the accuracy of the research or statistics. The turf is nice for speed and maintaining, although it is noticeably hotter in the summer. I’m thankful for the kindness that allows us to have the turf.

On the flip side, I am personally a traditionalist that believes in overcoming the elements, such as rain/mud that creates an opportunity for sometimes strength and willpower occasionally overcoming speed and athleticism. Ultimately, I lean towards whatever has the least injury risk. It “seems” that there is more knee and ankle injuries since the turf installation; however, I have no statistics to back that up and could be simply flawed perception or recency bias.

[KW23 10]

3 hours ago, sixcat said:

Galax has had turf since 2017. Grayson County just installed it this spring/summer. Carroll County School Board has reportedly approved it but it hasn’t been installed yet. 

Grayson better hurry up drove by a week ago all I saw was a bunch of dirt lol

[BandanaVTDavis4321 1,718]

11 hours ago, SwvaOG said:

Ridgeview has it and it is still in good shape structurally.  Richlands has it and was the first in the region or one of the first.  It’s in pretty bad shape and is scheduled to be replaced soon.  Honaker has it and it is still in good shape.  Mitchell stadium has it as does Central’s field.

In 2D in M7 the following are all grass: Battle, Lee, Abingdon, Union and Gate City.  In the SWD Tazewell, Marion, Virginia High and Lebanon are all grass with Richlands and Graham playing on turf.

I haven't been to Marion in probably 25 years. They use to play on a darn baseball field where some of the field was "infield." Don't know if that's changed. 

[sixcat 2,922]

12 hours ago, ImFromOutEast said:

What high school football stadiums in SWVA have field turf? Out this way none of the Class 1 schools have it nor does Class 2 King William. Go up north in the Fredericksburg area, King George has it as do every school in Spotsylvania County (All Class 4 I do believe). I know there are pros and cons about it. A former coach in these parts didn't like to play @ King George because he said his players would usually come away with more injuries than typically seen playing on a grass field. I saw one talented freshman RB suffer a knee injury @ KG that forced him to miss the remainder of the season.

Check out FourSeasonsFootball.com. It's operated by a member of this board @Bluefield researcher. At the bottom of every schools historical schedule/results is a photo of their home field.

https://www.fourseasonsfootball.com/

 

[SwvaOG 602]

55 minutes ago, BandanaVTDavis4321 said:

I haven't been to Marion in probably 25 years. They use to play on a darn baseball field where some of the field was "infield." Don't know if that's changed. 

I haven't been since my Freshman year in high school.  We played them there....back in late 80's!  Since I'm not tied to going to RV games anymore, I'm gonna visit some of the other places and watch some different teams this year.  Maybe our paths will cross.

[Ryan4VT 4,557]

1 hour ago, BandanaVTDavis4321 said:

I haven't been to Marion in probably 25 years. They use to play on a darn baseball field where some of the field was "infield." Don't know if that's changed. 

Still the same lol. 

[Plywood_King 518]

10 minutes ago, Ryan4VT said:

Still the same lol. 

I can't remember which team it was, but some where around 2013-2014 a visiting team won the coin toss at Marion and elected to "choose end of the field" rather than kick or receive to make sure that they weren't playing into the sand pit of the baseball infield during the 2nd and 4th quarters in the rain.