b'Getting Down and DirtyAs NFL players call for the switch to natural grass, its time to address the concerns of artificial turf.Alex MartinFOR YEARS , the U.S. has been in debate ofdoesnt pivot, it can cause these lower leg injuries like whats better to play sports on: natural grass orACL and ankle injuries at a greater rate.synthetic turf? Its debated from high school to col- In response to a switch from natural to artificial turf lege to pro sports, and its particularly becomingat the University of North Carolina, Turfgrass Producers highlighted in one major area: football. International and the North Carolina Sod Producers NFL players across the country have been callingAssociation noted this study mentioned 1,280 NFL for stadiums to make a switch from artificial to natural.games were played during the 2012-16 seasons. During Why? For player safety. those games, 4,801 lower body injuries occurred, which Some in the NFL Players Association are makingaffected 2,032 players. Artificial turf resulted in a 27% claims that they feel every NFL team should switch toincrease in non-contact lower body injuries.Kevin Morris natural grass, says Matt Duncan, account manager atSo why is artificial turf still in play?serves as DLF Pickseed. The bottom line is, they feel that syntheticexecutive turf shortens their careers. Theres been a lot of researchUpkeep Upkeep Upkeep director of the looking into that. Natural grass is more forgiving. One of the hot debates between natural grass andNational According to a study published by the Americansynthetic is the debate of upkeep. Of course, theTurfgrass Journal of Sports Medicine, play on synthetic turfcommon misconception is that natural grass takes soEvaluation resulted in a 16% increase in lower extremity injuriesmuch more upkeep than synthetic, because there isProgram per play than on natural turf.no upkeep with synthetic! Right? Wrong.(NTEP). When maintained, natural turf will actually giveJust like you have to maintain natural turf, you also way, whereas artificial turf often catches the foot,have to maintain artificial.says Kevin Morris, executive director of the NationalThere are maintenance standards that artificial turf Turfgrass Evaluation Program (NTEP). If that footcompanies often dont tell you, Morris says. When many school districts put in artificial turf, they have this idea that its maintenance free, or that they can send just any untrained employee out to sweep it or clean it.26/ SEEDWORLD.COMOCTOBER 2021'