pphilfran
1/28/2011, 09:13 AM
This is up your alley....
http://www.swoknews.com/main.asp?SectionID=7&SubSectionID=103&ArticleID=32394
Drive through the Cache school complex and it's hard not to notice the growth and expansion and one of the showcase projects is the football field renovation, complete with artificial turf.
Ironically, area sports writer Jacob Unruh and yours truly were discussing that very project yesterday afternoon when former Constitution staffer Danny Collier called to visit and catch up on the happenings around his hometown.
Pretty soon Collier was giving me all the details on the Cache project and he should know because he's been in the turf business for more than 35 years and his company Shaw SportExe has the contract to lay the turf at Ulrich Stadium.
"The people at Cache are going to be really proud of that field; it is going to be something else," Collier said. "This is new technology that provides a better multi-purpose field for football and soccer."
When we first started learning about the project, we were told that the turf is the same that adorns Cameron Stadium but that's not quite true. The turf at Cameron is SportExe, but that field is the Momentum surface, which is "slit-film" technology that SportExe has used at several National Football League fields including the Baltimore Ravens M&T Bank Stadium and the Metrodome where the Vikings play.
Instead the Cache players will be practicing and playing on Power Blade HP2.5, which is monofilament fiber. It is the latest technology in the turf business according to Collier, who is Western National Sales Manager at Shaw Industries-Shaw Sportexe.
"The Power Blade HP2.5 has been used at the University of Arkansas, at three fields in Norman including Harve Collins Field at Norman High and a brand new field at Norman North, and also at Claremore High School," Collier said. "There are a couple of advantages with this new turf and one of those is that in soccer, the ball rolls much smoother.
"In fact, we just installed this turf in Taos, N.M., at a new FILA two-star field and we expect to put down many more fields like that in the future. Now, there are many schools that play soccer on the Momentum turf and love the results. All three Edmond schools play soccer on Momentum and love it, and the Lawton schools have gotten good results with the Momentum at Cameron Stadium."
In addition to Power Blade and Momentum lines of turf, SportExe, which produces all it its products at its huge factory in Dalton, Ga., has started a third line called Legend.
"The new Legend line is actually a hybrid of the two fibers," Collier said. "It's really in its infancy right now but we've put down a couple of baseball fields and the results have been excellent according to what we've heard back from customers. We just put down an infield at Owasso High School's baseball field and they love the feel and the bounce (of the ball)."
As Collier explains, the type of turf is selected according to the sport or activities that the purchaser plans to conduct on the surface.
"I have seven salesmen who work west of the Mississippi and one of the things they have to learn is how to listen to the customer and then make a decision on what turf best suits the use plan for that field," he said. "In the case of Cache, since they have started having some success in soccer, they wanted to get the field that was best balanced for both football and soccer and this new technology is the best out there."
http://www.swoknews.com/main.asp?SectionID=7&SubSectionID=103&ArticleID=32394
Drive through the Cache school complex and it's hard not to notice the growth and expansion and one of the showcase projects is the football field renovation, complete with artificial turf.
Ironically, area sports writer Jacob Unruh and yours truly were discussing that very project yesterday afternoon when former Constitution staffer Danny Collier called to visit and catch up on the happenings around his hometown.
Pretty soon Collier was giving me all the details on the Cache project and he should know because he's been in the turf business for more than 35 years and his company Shaw SportExe has the contract to lay the turf at Ulrich Stadium.
"The people at Cache are going to be really proud of that field; it is going to be something else," Collier said. "This is new technology that provides a better multi-purpose field for football and soccer."
When we first started learning about the project, we were told that the turf is the same that adorns Cameron Stadium but that's not quite true. The turf at Cameron is SportExe, but that field is the Momentum surface, which is "slit-film" technology that SportExe has used at several National Football League fields including the Baltimore Ravens M&T Bank Stadium and the Metrodome where the Vikings play.
Instead the Cache players will be practicing and playing on Power Blade HP2.5, which is monofilament fiber. It is the latest technology in the turf business according to Collier, who is Western National Sales Manager at Shaw Industries-Shaw Sportexe.
"The Power Blade HP2.5 has been used at the University of Arkansas, at three fields in Norman including Harve Collins Field at Norman High and a brand new field at Norman North, and also at Claremore High School," Collier said. "There are a couple of advantages with this new turf and one of those is that in soccer, the ball rolls much smoother.
"In fact, we just installed this turf in Taos, N.M., at a new FILA two-star field and we expect to put down many more fields like that in the future. Now, there are many schools that play soccer on the Momentum turf and love the results. All three Edmond schools play soccer on Momentum and love it, and the Lawton schools have gotten good results with the Momentum at Cameron Stadium."
In addition to Power Blade and Momentum lines of turf, SportExe, which produces all it its products at its huge factory in Dalton, Ga., has started a third line called Legend.
"The new Legend line is actually a hybrid of the two fibers," Collier said. "It's really in its infancy right now but we've put down a couple of baseball fields and the results have been excellent according to what we've heard back from customers. We just put down an infield at Owasso High School's baseball field and they love the feel and the bounce (of the ball)."
As Collier explains, the type of turf is selected according to the sport or activities that the purchaser plans to conduct on the surface.
"I have seven salesmen who work west of the Mississippi and one of the things they have to learn is how to listen to the customer and then make a decision on what turf best suits the use plan for that field," he said. "In the case of Cache, since they have started having some success in soccer, they wanted to get the field that was best balanced for both football and soccer and this new technology is the best out there."