SMC joins movement toward synthetic turf
By MICHAEL MIDDLEHURST-SCHWARTZ Special to the Daily Press
SMC Renovations to install artificial field turf on Corsair Field will begin this week, according to Santa Monica College athletic director Rhonda Hyatt.
The project will cost $2.7 million, Hyatt said. The renovations will be funded entirely by Measure S, a $135 million bond measure passed in 2004 allowing for upgraded facilities.
SMC officials planned to start the repairs at the beginning of June but had to wait until after Tuesday’s graduation ceremony for construction to begin.
The artificial turf will require less caretaking than the current natural field grass, an advantage that Hyatt said was instrumental for the usage of the multi-purpose field. In addition to hosting SMC football and soccer games, Corsair Field is also the site of Santa Monica High School home football games in the fall.
“Natural grass works if you can give it a rest, but we’ve never been able to give it time off,” Hyatt said. “We spend a lot of money resodding it every year and this is zero risk.”
The field made it through three weeks last season before a rain-drenched Samohi game against Venice High School tore up the natural grass, leaving the field covered in divots. With SMC hosting a game against Citrus College the following day, SMC football coach Robert Taylor was upset with the condition of the field.
“It was just unbearable,” Taylor said. “It’s time we moved into the 21st century and we’re doing that now.”
While the field is under construction.
Samohi will allow SMC’s football team to use its facilities for practice over the summer. The project is expected to be completed on Sept. 1.
SMC scheduled away games for the first three football games of the season to compensate for any delays in the field’s preparation. The Corsairs will play their first game on the new surface against Los Angeles Valley College on Sept. 27.
The move will also allow the SMC women’s soccer team to practice and play home games on Corsair Field. The team had previously used the fields at John Adams Middle School and Santa Monica Airport Park.
“It’s a good move for the school and the team deserves it,” Hyatt said.
SMC is one of the last schools in the newly-formed American Pacific Conference to move to artificial turf.
Construction crews will also install new lights and resurface the track over the summer.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 11, 2008. Read the original PDF.