Until now, Silver Creek High School hasn’t held a home sporting event for many seasons. Every high school in the district has installed a turf football field except Silver Creek and Lyons. This summer, however, Silver Creek’s very own turf field was installed. The replacement of real grass with artificial turf comes with both upsides and concerns.

The turf field has been a significant overall improvement to Creek sports, including soccer and football. According to Dave Bonday, Soccer Coach, and School Resource Officer, “The turf is better to play on—the ball moves quicker.”

Before the turf field, Bonday described the real grass as a “home field disadvantage” since every other school had turf already.

Silver Creek Junior and varsity soccer player Aris Lindquist also had high praises for the new field. “The turf feels much better and plays much better—It plays faster and is more consistent across the whole field.”

The majority of the soccer team also agrees. The common consensus is that the turf is a much faster playing surface. The disadvantage of playing on a grass field is now gone and Silver Creek will have a better chance at winning more games

Despite the quickness of games, turf fields are inherently more injury-prone to those playing on it. The harder surface can lead to a higher risk of injuries compared to natural grass.

Silver Creek Athletic Trainer Scott Sullivan says, “turf is much easier to get ankle and knee injuries than real grass.”

Even still, some football players think otherwise. Silver Creek Senior and Quarterback, Eli Mires, says, “the old grass was dangerous and had a bunch of patches and holes, but now on the new turf we don’t have to worry about that.”

Although many people, including the Silver Creek athletic trainer, Scott Sullivan, are convinced that artificial turf is more injury-prone than real grass, the condition of the former field may invalidate that argument. Having uneven surfaces and different conditions across the field could be more dangerous than the new even and level turf. The bumps, holes, and patchiness can lead to injuries more severe than those caused by a turf field.