By Harrison Baxter

Grover Jones Field. Photo courtesy of Collegiate School.

Injuries in youth sports can be devastating and sometimes have lasting effects for the rest of an athlete’s life. They are just a part of the game. Losing a game is painful at times, but the true downside of sports is the injuries that happen. With athletes training frequently from a young age, it feels like everyone is bound for some sort of setback injury in their athletic career. One factor that plays a larger role than some people might realize is the surface being played on. As playing surfaces have developed and become more modern, many playing fields have switched from natural grass to artificial turf. 

Collegiate’s Grover Jones field, where the football and boys lacrosse teams play, is made of artificial turf. Along with this, Doxey Field at the Robins Campus, where the field hockey and girls lacrosse teams play, is also artificial turf. The turf gets extremely hot in summer weather. During this summer’s preseason football camp, one player’s cleat sole detached from its upper due to the glue melting. Along with the risk of hot temperatures, there is research to suggest that injuries are more common on artificial turf, as opposed to natural grass playing surfaces. 

New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers on the turf after tearing his Achilles tendon on Sept. 11. Photo credit: Noah K. Murray/Associated Press.

A review of studies done to compare the injury risk on turf vs. grass found that the injury rates for foot and ankle injuries are significantly higher on artificial turf. Such injuries can occur when planting or changing direction, and the cleat studs get caught in the fibers of the turf. When a similar action is performed on natural grass, often the force of the foot and cleat will rip through the dirt and grass and allow the cleat to change direction with the body, but when the cleat is caught in turf fibers, the cleat and foot can be left stuck in the ground. This can lead to foot and ankle injuries on the turf surfaces. Along with foot and ankle injuries, the rate of knee injuries among high-level football athletes is also higher on artificial turf, as opposed to natural grass, as found in studies. During a study of 4,801 foot and leg injuries in the NFL from 2012-2016, the research found that there were over than 16% more injuries per play on artificial turf, and the number was as high as 20% more injuries per play with non-contact injuries. The study concluded that if all games were played on grass, over 380 of these injuries could have been prevented. 

A diagram of knee ligaments. Image credit: Wikimedia user Timi2606.

Collegiate varsity football wide receiver Jackson O’Keefe (‘24) was making a cut while running a route one day in practice in October when his toe caught the turf, causing immediate pain, which was identified as a sprained ankle. Another Senior lost his last season of football in a game against Douglas Freeman High School in September. Braden Felts (‘24) suffered a torn ACL in his right leg when running across the field to make a block. Felts seemed to slip awkwardly, and his knee collapsed on him. In an interview, Felts stated that, “the turf didn’t feel quite right all night. It was easy for your cleats to get caught and cause you to fall.” Junior defensive back Blake Ingold (’25) also talked about how “[he] dislikes turf a lot. The surface causes turf burn, and the risk of non-contact injury feels much higher to me when on turf.” Ingold broke his leg playing on turf during a JV football game in his Freshman year.

This fall, I tore my lateral meniscus in my left knee, and this resulted in me needing repair surgery, with months of recovery ahead of me. The injury occured on the Grover Jones turf during a football game against Fork Union Military Academy. When receiving a hit from the left side, my foot got caught in the turf, and when my body was hit to the right, my foot stuck and caused an awkward turn of my knee. It is one thing when a season-ending injury occurs, but when it is possible that playing turf caused or worsened the injury, that makes the injury even more frustrating.