CANTON, Ga. — When the calendar turns fall in the football-obsessed South, all six high schools in one Georgia school district will be playing on new synthetic turf fields from the industry leader in innovation, AstroTurf.

The Cherokee County School District chose AstroTurf® and Sports Turf Company, Inc., a Certified AstroTurf Distributor, to complete the renovations. The board made their decision after extensive research showed AstroTurf’s synthetic turf provided exceptional annual cost of ownership, met rigorous demands for player safety, would significantly reduce maintenance demands, and would be durable to hold up longer for use by football, soccer and lacrosse programs.

Fields at the school district’s six high schools — Cherokee, Creekview, Etowah, River Ridge, Sequoyah and Woodstock — are all included in the project. In total, 535,166 square feet of synthetic turf will be installed before football season kicks off this fall.

The field at Etowah is a replacement field, while the other five are conversions of existing natural grass fields and include demolition, new construction and surfacing of existing track events within the boundaries of the fields.  

“Through this installation, the Cherokee County School District will avoid significant annual maintenance costs and will increase safety for players, while also evening the playing field for our student athletes in competitive divisions,” district spokeswoman Barbara Jacoby said.

Covering all six fields is AstroTurf RootZone 3D3 Blend Decade, a performance turf system that combines slit film and monofilament fibers for optimum durability and visual appeal. It is highlighted by AstroTurf’s patented RootZone sub-layer, a texturized fiber that stabilizes infill and improves shock absorbency.

The RootZone 3D3 Blended Fiber system is 60 ounces of fiber and has a 10-year warranty backed by an annual AstroTurf maintenance plan. The Trionic fibers blend PE and nylon into an ultra-durable fiber that wears up to 50 percent better. This turf system will provide exceptional force reduction to reduce incidence of concussions and cleat interaction that better replicates well-maintained natural grass playing fields to reduce incidence of injuries to lower extremities.

While football games will first be played on the fields, they are all multi-purpose and will host lacrosse and soccer contests.

With six high schools in the district, creating a consistent look while allowing each school to express its unique character, was vital. While the process of designing and approving graphics packages may have been a bit more challenging with so many different stakeholders all having input, the results are spectacular looking fields that will stand out every bit as much as their performance. 

• White, 6-foot borders around the fields.
• Colored end zones, colored team areas and colored field borders.
• In some cases, complex center field logos and end zone letters that, themselves include logos and borders.
• Cherokee will be one of the first school systems in Georgia to adopt Unified Lacrosse Markings on their turf fields.
• Subtle gray and Vegas gold soccer and lacrosse marking packages.

These fields raise the bar for performance, safety, playability, and durability of synthetic turf fields in Georgia, and do so at a price point that demonstrates how serious Cherokee County School District officials are about fiscal responsibility.

Sports Turf Company, Inc. is leading the charge on this multi-field project handling everything from start to finish with the school district.  Their twenty-six year history as a leader in athletic facility construction and renovation really stood out in Cherokee County’s decision making. Sports Turf Company counts four Certified Field Builders and two Certified Track Builders on staff. This certification by American Sports Builders Association (ASBA) means Sports Turf Company is among the most highly qualified specialty sports contractors in the Southeast U.S., expertise that was perfectly suited for the demands of the Cherokee schools projects.

About AstroTurf®
For athletes and sport enthusiasts, AstroTurf® has redefined the way the game is played. The brand offers advanced, state-of-the-art, multi-sport and specialized synthetic turf systems with proprietary engineered technologies. A growing number of high schools, colleges, professional sports teams and municipalities continue to select AstroTurf-branded products for their premium quality, technical superiority, and safety. To learn more, visit AstroTurf’s website at www.astroturf.com.

CONCORD, CA. — AstroTurf, the leading synthetic turf company, has teamed up with a tradition-rich high school to make history in California.  De La Salle High School, an all-boys school founded in 1965, chose AstroTurf for its new 75,000-square-foot athletic field.

What makes this project so noteworthy is it’s AstroTurf’s first installation of SuperNatural EPDM infill and the 3D360 Blend turf system featuring Trionic Fiber in the state of California. The Spartans selected AstroTurf because of their high-quality products and local references in Northern California. After speaking with the company’s clients, De La Salle High School went with AstroTurf because of its track record of successful projects and history of unparalleled service.

“De La Salle is excited to partner with AstroTurf,” said Leo Lopoz, Vice President of Athletics at De La Salle High School. “Throughout the selection process, AstroTurf has exceeded expectations and demonstrated tremendous professionalism. From the beginning, AstroTurf and Valley Precision Grading answered all of our questions and needs. After discussion with many other schools at different levels, it became apparent that AstroTurf checked all of the boxes that we were looking at. We look forward to the next phase of our stadium field surface and couldn’t be happier with our selection of AstroTurf!”

The De La Salle High School project is using the Melos SuperNatural EPDM Infill, which is blended EPDM rubber with 20 percent organic compound woven throughout the rubber materials. Melos brings legendary quality standards and an innovative approach to blend natural fibers into EPDM, creating additional cooling benefits. Advantages of this super-durable system include hemp which wicks water to help further reduce surface temperatures (which is crucial in the hot California sun), no water required for the product integrity and the bulk density reduces the quantity needed. Also, to provide a level of environmental friendliness, renewable raw materials are included.

The turf itself is in a class of its own. AstroTurf’s Trionic Fiber is a super-fiber that reinforces player-friendly polyethylene fibers with ultra-durable nylon polymers in a feat of chemical engineering never achieved before in the turf industry. The 3D3 designation means the field also has AstroTurf’s patented RootZone, a sub-layer of crimped fibers that stabilizes the infill and increases shock absorbency. The turf has a 60-ounce face weight, meaning it has very dense stitching. All of these factors combine to make a synthetic turf that is stronger, safer, better and more resilient.  

AstroTurf is pushing field performance and safety to a new standard for the athletes of California, and De La Salle High School is well-known for its success on the athletic fields. The high school has produced numerous athletes who have played in MLB, NBA, NFL, professional soccer leagues and the Olympics.

The Spartans football program holds the national winning streak record with 151 straight victories from 1992 to 2004. The streak shattered the previous record of 72 consecutive wins. The football program won the California Open Division State Championships six times between 2009 and 2015, while playing in the Open Division state title game every year since the division was founded in 2008.

The football team will not be the only accomplished De La Salle team benefitting from this new field. The Soccer and Lacrosse teams, as well as the Rugby club, will be competing on it. The Soccer team hopes to build on their 26 league championships and 13 North Coast Championships while the Lacrosse team looks to add to their 7 league championships and 5 NCS championships. The Rugby Club is over 70 athletes strong and will also be very active on the new surface.

About AstroTurf®
For athletes and sport enthusiasts, AstroTurf® has redefined the way the game is played. The brand offers advanced, state-of-the-art, multi-sport and specialized synthetic turf systems with proprietary engineered technologies. A growing number of high schools, colleges, professional sports teams and municipalities continue to select AstroTurf-branded products for their premium quality, technical superiority, and safety. To learn more, visit AstroTurf’s website at www.astroturf.com.