Greenbrier field is a public synthetic turf field owned by Arlington County. Despite being 20 years old, this field has only had one renovation. This is part of the reason why Arlington County has decided to start construction on the field this winter. These renovations will replace the synthetic turf and update the infill. As a result, the field will be closed for the next three months, and will prevent anyone from using it during that time.
There are many changes happening to our turf field with this renovation. To start, this renovation is happening because Arlington County is due to replace the turf and the infill–the material that is used to fill the field–every eight years. According to Director of Student Activities Michael Krulfeld, this renovation is Arlington County’s attempt to make the infill more environmentally friendly.
“[Arlington County] has been trying to find a different type of infill that’s not made from rubber, one that’s more environmentally friendly,” Krulfeld said.
The new infill is going to be crushed corn, whereas the last infill was crumb rubber. Crushed corn, while more environmentally friendly, could impact some of our sports teams and how the balls bounce on the field. For lacrosse, it could impact how the ball skips off the turf and into the goal. It could also affect sports such as football and soccer, sports where athletes slide on the turf. According to Krulfeld, this new iteration should hopefully be an improvement in some aspects.
“Some of the earlier versions [of turf] would leave surface wounds, like scratches on people so hopefully, [the new turf] will be an improvement and the iteration will be better than what they currently have installed,” Krulfeld said.
This renovation will also have a major impact on sports green days in the winter off-season and on our school’s track team. Green days are days in a sports teams off season in which they condition and train for the upcoming season.
“Part of the track will be shut off and so our track team will feel somewhat of an impact because of that,” Krulfeld said.
It’s not just the track team that will feel the impact. Without access to the field, spring sports such as lacrosse and soccer will have to compromise in order to continue their green days.
“Soccer and lacrosse teams have optional green days, so those will have to be moved to Williamsburg [Middle School],” Krulfeld said.
This renovation will also be impacting students at our school who don’t play sports. The parking in front of the field will be taken up by the vehicles that are transporting the materials for the construction, which could impact students who benefit from those parking spaces.
The time needed to get this new field will certainly impact our schools’ students. However, it will undoubtedly benefit both our students and the environment once the construction is done.
