Student athletes find artificial turf a painful adjustment

Jason Perloff and Leo Marzigliano

June 3, 2025

Youthcast Media Group®

Many of the student-athletes who play on the new artificial turf field at Annandale High School don't like it.

"The field is very rough and makes recovering harder,” Atoms quarterback Noah Lenn said.

“I think we definitely needed an upgrade," boys lacrosse player Ike Readinger said, "but right now it hurts if you slide or land on it.”

The new field was installed last summer by Hellas Construction of Austin, Texas. It is made partly with cork and coconut husks. "This organic combination," the company says on its website, "makes an infill that will stay put, with less 'splash out' and act more like the dirt in real grass."

Then why not real grass? That has been a question for 60 years, since Astroturf was invented for the first domed stadium, in Houston.

School systems often prefer artificial-turf fields for their durability and drainability. That is important at Annandale, where multiple school sports teams practice and play on the field, as do community sports teams.

The National Football League Players Association says that its players are more likely to suffer injuries on turf fields than on grass. The league says studies on that are inconclusive. Half of the NFL's 30 stadiums use artificial turf.

Injuries at Annandale are “sitting about the same" as last season, said Ryan Hughes, the high school's head athletic trainer, "but the one thing I do notice is the abrasions.” 

Hughes said the hope is that the turf will soften as time goes on. He said he spoke to athletics directors at Osbourne High School and Falls Church High School who told him they had noticed their new fields settled with the rain, evening out "the rough edges, making the infills softer.”

Daniel Diaz, a former Annandale athlete, plays on a community flag football team that uses the field. "I was scared to slide," he said. “It was different from when I played for Annandale [on grass] but I enjoyed the way my cleats grabbed the (artificial) grass. I think in a few months, after it wears in, I will definitely revisit this field.”

The company's website says that their new fields offer "optimal shock absorption, excellent traction in all weather conditions, without causing abrasions on players when falling or sliding." That last part, so far, has not been the experience of many of Annandale's athletes. 

Readinger says that he hopes "in time for lacrosse season, the field becomes more tolerable... It would suck to have nasty cuts constantly.”

Jason Perloff and Leo Marzigliano are seniors at Annandale High School (AHS) in Annandale, Va. AHS is one of Youthcast Media Group’s journalism class partners.