Q&A: Turf at Turlock’s Debely Stadium can be salvaged, specialist says

The hardening synthetic turf at Joe Debely Stadium can be salvaged this football season, one specialist says, but the fix could come at a hefty cost.

Josh Sarratt has followed the saga closely, and as a former collegiate football player with three boys of his own in pads and a helmet, his heart breaks for the teams that have been displaced by the field.

For nearly 20 years, Sarratt has marketed, sold and installed synthetic turf across the globe for FieldTurf and now as a major project manager with GreenFields USA.

His home office in Ripon is a shrine to the fake stuff. There is crumb rubber and sand splashed across his desktop and a built-in shelves house samples of every style and length, from putting greens to prototypes.

He shakes the mouse, revealing the piece de resistance on his computer screen – a picture of the two-toned artificial football field at the University of Oregon.

“We did everything,” Sarratt said with a proud smile.

Sarratt has been to Panama, Canada and all parts of the continental United States on business. He’s installed turf at CenturyLink Field in Seattle, the famous “Smurf turf” at Boise State, and more recently, the United Nations in New York. In July, he logged 27,000 airline miles.

Yes, his passport features more ink than a painted end zone, but his work can be seen locally, too. Sarratt oversaw the installation of the original turf at Sonora and Oakdale high schools. All told, he has about 400 installations under his belt.

This topic is his turf, and he believes a small glimmer of hope exists for the Turlock Unified School District and its football teams. The Hail Mary, though, could cost tens of thousands of dollars. It would require hiring a crew, fluffing the field with a deep comb, pouring 80,000 pounds of rubber infill and prayer.

Yes, prayer.

There are no guarantees a field will pass another compaction test after it has reached such a critical stage.

The Bee sat down with Sarratt to discuss the misconceptions and maintenance of turf fields, and more:

James Burns: There seems to be a misconception in the argument of “synthetic versus real.” Do some people feel the fake stuff is low maintenance because it doesn’t need to be mowed?

Josh Sarratt: Low maintenance? Everybody thinks there’s NO maintenance. Even when you pour concrete, there’s still some maintenance and upkeep. If you don’t maintain it, the concrete can crack and weeds can grow. The word “synthetic” doesn’t mean no upkeep. You have to do your due diligence and the company has to do theirs with a deep cleaning. There is a marriage – and a training that happens after every (installation). Any company I’ve worked for, there is a training that takes place.

JB: Typically, what’s the lifespan of turf?

JS: The normal life expectancy is eight to 12 years. Nowadays, warranties are geared toward eight years with high-frequency fields and high-profile projects, like the NFL. Those fields get replaced every two to three years.

JB: What type of maintenance is required?

JS: Most fields get a GreensGroomer, which is tow-behind brush with a catch basin and an articulating broom. You want to clean the field once a month or every other month during the peak season just to keep it clean. There also should be a maintenance program sold to each school that says the company will do a deep grooming once or twice a year. They’ll drag the field with a magnet for any metal debris and disinfect it.

JB: We’ve been introduced to terms and contraptions like “compaction” and “the miracle worker.” Can you tell us more about this “the miracle worker”?

JS (laughing): That’s just a drag broom. It’s like a comb on springs, so it has a little resistance to it. It digs down and loosens (the infill) up and helps the field with the Gmax.

JB: There’s another one – “Gmax.” Please explain.

JS: The Gmax is the rate of force something falls at and then the counter; how abruptly it stops. (Editor’s note: In other words, Gmax measures how much force is absorbed by the field and how much is transferred back to the player. The more force transferred back to the player, the greater chance there is of injury.)

JB: What exactly does a compaction test measure?

JS: When they say “compaction,” they’re really talking about the Gmax. A field, for its entire life, should have a Gmax of 110 to 160, and with proper upkeep you should be able to keep it in that range … even with people on it all the time. Some people put down a shock pad, or sine pad, which helps with those Gmax numbers.

JB: Typically, what causes a field to harden?

JS: When debris and particles settle in, it’s going to harden up. Soda pop, Gatorade and sugars, they coagulate right away. You need to break that stuff up and clean it.

JB: How often do you hear about the infill breaking down, causing a field to harden to unsafe levels?

JS: It is rare. Sometimes, you have a lot of migration of dust and dirt. Dust gets in there and stops drainage, which makes a field compact. We’ve had that, but nothing solely related to the field or the infill. It’s usually outsides forces that affect it.

JB: The closure of Joe Debely Stadium follows news of lawsuits and closures elsewhere. With all of these bad headlines, do you still believe synthetic turf is the way of the future?

JS: I still agree with synthetic turf. I’m a big proponent because of the multiple uses of a synthetic field rather than a grass field, especially in areas with a lot of rain or places with watering costs like California. If it’s affordable, it’s the way to go.

This story was originally published August 27, 2016 at 4:12 PM with the headline "Q&A: Turf at Turlock’s Debely Stadium can be salvaged, specialist says."