Rider Unveils New Turf Field

Don’t be afraid of the dark.

In fact, students at Rider are ready to embrace the night, because the University’s new FieldTurf synthetic grass field for soccer, field hockey, intramural and club sports will also offer Rider competitors of all stripes an experience never before known on the Lawrenceville campus: playing under the lights.

The turf field will make its eagerly anticipated nighttime debut on Friday, September 10, when the women’s soccer team hosts Fairleigh Dickinson University. The contest, part of a grand opening celebration for the new facility, will mark the first-ever night game on Rider’s Lawrenceville campus.

The festivities begin at 7:15 p.m. with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, followed by the game, which kicks off at 7:30. Snacks and drinks will be available throughout the game, and alumni of the women’s soccer program will be recognized at halftime. Contests and giveaways will also take place. Admission is free. The Rider Pub will be open from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. for a postgame celebration. All are invited to this landmark Rider event, and should RSVP online by September 3 at http://alumni.rider.edu/eventregistration.

The first intercollegiate varsity game on the new field will be the September 1 men’s soccer game against Lafayette College at 5 p.m. That match is expected to conclude prior to dusk, sustaining the anticipation for the September 10 night game.

“The players get more excited for night games,” head women’s soccer coach Drayson Hounsome said. “You get more fans, and your preparation is better because you are not rushing to the games from class. We’re excited to play under the lights.”

 Hounsome’s Broncs aren’t the only beneficiaries of the new facility. In addition to field hockey and men’s soccer, the lighted turf field will be a haven to Rider’s vibrant intramural and club sports programs, according to Dianna Clauss, assistant director of Campus Life and Recreation programs.

“Our biggest challenge has always been the lack of daylight,” explained Clauss, who oversees an intramurals program that counted 1,200 student participants during the 2009-10 academic year, which does not count the hundreds more who played for club sports, which compete against other colleges and universities, but not at the varsity level of under the auspices of the NCAA. “There wasn’t always enough hours in the day to schedule time for all of our sports, as well as the varsity student-athletes at Rider. The window of opportunity has opened a great deal.”

Clauss said that intramural activities like outdoor soccer and flag football, and club sports like field hockey, men’s lacrosse and ultimate Frisbee will immediately benefit from the new field, which will see its lights remain lit until 11 p.m. daily, and that Recreation has its sights set on adding and upgrading the status of several intramural and club sports – all because of the increased utility of the turf field.

“It’s really exciting and I’m looking forward to continuing to actualizing our potential within intramural and club sports,” Clauss said.

FieldTurf represented a quantum leap forward for synthetic playing surfaces when it first appeared in the late 1990s. More durable than natural grass, FieldTurf offers a similar feel to the real thing, but with more uniform traction and superior shock absorption.

What’s more, the 100 percent recyclable ersatz turf is an environmentally friendly product as well, removing impact on water resources and eliminating the need for potentially harmful fertilizers, herbicides and fungicides that can run off into ground water. Also spared is the gasoline that would otherwise be needed to power lawn-care machinery.

The Georgia-based FieldTurf Tarkett Sports Company, manufacturers of the product, reclaim millions of used tires from landfills each year in order to create their surfaces. These recycled rubber tires are cryogenically frozen, and then shattered into smooth, clean-cut granules, which are then combined with silica sand to provide the infill that makes the individual fiber “blades” of FieldTurf stand up. The rubber granules comprise approximately 30 percent of the infill weight.

Rider’s athletics teams are more concerned with the advantages they’ll take from the field than the things in it, however.

“Our players will benefit from the daily training on the surface that we compete on,” said head field hockey coach Lori Hussong, whose team will play its home opener against Colgate University on Saturday, September 4, at noon. “It’s another progressive step by the University’s administration and our athletic director in giving all our athletics teams the best possible chance for success.”