SportsTurf

April 2012

SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.

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Facility&Operations | Mary Helen Sprecher Photos courtesy of Bernie Clasing Growing interest in lacrosse coming soon to a field near you HEY DIDN'T HAVE HELMETS OR GOGGLES. They didn't have mouth guards or cleated shoes. But the original Native Americans, who in- vented the game of lacrosse, had perhaps the most important thing of all: abundant open space to play in. T These days, our lacrosse fields have to be built to precise specifi- cations concerning size and slope. But the game remains with us, and it certainly does continue to grow. According to the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), more than 170,000 boys and girls played lacrosse competitively last year. In fact, among the girls, the sport vaulted into the top 10 most popular during the 2010-2011 school year. Reflecting this interest, an in- creased number of lacrosse camps and clinics are being of- fered, as are more travel teams 28 SportsTurf | April 2012 and opportunities for athletes. What does that mean for a field manager? Better get ready for the invasion. THE BASICS Lacrosse requires a large amount of space to be played ac- cording to the rules. High school boys' lacrosse fields must be 330 feet (minimum) in length, and 160 feet in width. NCAA men's lacrosse fields are 330 feet minimum length and 180 feet standard width. For both high school and NCAA High school boys' lacrosse fields Length - 330 feet (minimum) Width - 160 feet NCAA men's lacrosse fields Length - 330 feet (minimum) Width - 180 feet >> HARVARD SOCCER FIELD. Photo courtesy of Stantec, Boston, MA girls/women's lacrosse, the di- mensions are length 300 feet minimum/360 feet maximum, and width of 180 feet mini- mum/210 feet maximum. Out- side of the field itself, there are specifications governing the size of the coaches' area, and specific clearances around the field are recommended for athlete and spectator safety. Beyond those basics, there are requirements (as there are for all sports fields) concerning slope and drainage. These re- quirements will vary according to whether the field is natural grass or artificial turf (and if nat- ural grass, whether or not it has High school and NCAA girls/women's lacrosse fields Length - 300 feet (minimum) - 360 feet (maximum) Width - 180 feet (minimum) - 210 feet (maximum) www.sportsturfonline.com By

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