Breese's New Turf
Hi all:
I'm a Mingos fan but also a local who has had the opportunity to be down on the pitch for youth games that have already started using the new field/turf this spring.
I will be blunt. It is unlike any turf field I've been on in my life. I've been on baseball, softball, football and soccer fields, all of which are artificial/3G pitches. This one is totally unique. I don't have the qualification to know WTF is going on with it, but I can say as follows:
Running on it feels like you're running on a squishy grass field that just recently had a big rain, but is dry on top.
The ball does NOT roll very far for an artificial pitch.
The field feels like it's been overfilled.
Sliding on it leaves you covered in 3 substances: Black rubber pellets that look like mouse shit, sand, and salt.
Yes - you read that right, the field is filled with other ingredients other than bog standard rubber pellets that get kicked away and packed down over time.
So.... how is this going to affect play? It is decidedly weird to run on it. The ball does not bounce as much as you'd expect. It actually makes you feel slower, and it's certainly more tiring. Has their been any club or city statement about why the pitch is this way? I'm unsure if it's a problem, but it is much different than I was expecting.