The practice field. Photo courtesy of the SLOHS website
San Luis Obispo High School has the Holt stadium, a practice field, and the Taylor fields. While Holt Stadium’s field is new and still nice, the others are older and in bad shape.
“Holt is okay but the other fields suck,” said junior and varsity soccer player sophomore Ezra Hales.
Playing on good grass is extremely important to athletes as it affects their ability to play.
“On the dirt patches the ball bounces a lot so it is hard to have a good touch and play quickly,” said JV soccer player sophomore Mateo Barba.
Field conditions are also crucial on a more physical level.
According to Penn State Extension, The condition of a playing field is not only of aesthetic importance, but it also may affect play and player safety.
It is easy for players to twist their ankles or suffer other injuries from bumps and holes in the ground.
At the risk of sounding ungrateful, Holt was a great improvement but the other fields could do with an upgrade. An upgrade preferably in the form of turf.
Source: extension.psu.edu
Luke • Feb 7, 2024 at 5:27 pm
I agree that the fields need an upgrade, especially for football it is borderline dangerous falling on hard dry dirt and then it is completely drenched when they try to fix it last minute by turning on the sprinklers for hours on end. Putting band aids on the problems won’t fix anything. Although I know that turf is expensive, nice facilities will promote more kids to play and ultimately keep them safer in the long run. Turf is more easily manageable and ultimately looks, feels, and plays better. Finally, we need to see that turf fields is what needs to happen for the sake of sports at SLO.