John Desko, Head Men's Lacrosse Coach, Remarks on FieldTurf
On the advantages of the FieldTurf:
“We’ve played at similar facilities, and we really like it. Like Coach (Robinson) talked about, you take less of a blow than when you hit the AstroTurf, and you get rid of the rug burns. I think there are less serious injuries, like shoulder injuries or ACL injuries, so we’re excited about it. We’re going to have a practice field outside, so we’ll be able to practice on the game field. It’s going to be terrific for us.”
On how the new turf affects recruiting:
“It won’t hurt anything. I think it will definitely help. A lot of players have been on this. A lot of high school players are playing on this. When we went to get ready for the final four last year, which was at Ravens Stadium, we went over to Henniger (High School) which had a similar field to what is going in here.”
On the actually play of the surface:
“I think it’ll be great. We had it in the final four. It probably won’t affect so much inside as it will outside for practice. I was talking to Bill (Squires, from FieldTurf) and he said it will drain 50 inches of rain per hour, which is incredible. We can be outside and have a rainy day and have it go right through and not affect our play.”
On the differences between FieldTurf and AstroTurf:
“I don’t think the ball will bounce quite as much. I think it will be more like a grass field than an AstroTurf field. The way this is going, everybody’s going to have this stuff. It’s the future.”
Comparing injuries on AstroTurf vs. FieldTurf:
“We’ve been fortunate, but we know there’s probably more serious injuries on this field (Dome AstroTurf) than on the other field that’s going in. I think the guy’s will enjoy it more. You don’t get the scrapes. It eliminates things like that.”
