Walking out of their team’s Peden Stadium locker room, Ohio field hockey players can look over the east grandstand at the framework of the long-awaited Walter Fieldhouse.
The $12.5 million facility, which is set to open in the first quarter of 2014, will be a training hub for each of Ohio’s varsity sports, as well as intramurals, club sports and student recreation. It will be outfitted with a four-lane track, drop-down netting and brand new field turf perfect for a multitude of indoor activities. That list, however, doesn’t include field hockey.
That’s nothing new for the field hockey team, which plays on a sleek AstroTurf surface that is much different than the tall, thick material used on most artificial fields.
Pruitt Field’s new turf piles about a half inch high and might be completely installed by next week, according to an Ohio Athletics spokesperson. The fieldhouse’s turf, like that of Peden’s, will have a two-inch pile.
“I understand that 90 percent of the sports here can play on that type of surface, and we’re the only ones that play on (thinner) AstroTurf, so I have to have a little bit of accommodation for the other sports here,” field hockey coach Neil Macmillan said.
Even if the fieldhouse turf did fit his specifications, Macmillian said he would rather host his team’s practices outdoors when the weather permits.
The team, which is still displaced because of the near-complete Pruitt Field construction, will still use the facility, however, by training on its track.
Ryan Lombardi, OU vice president for Student Affairs, said, barring setbacks, most of the structure of the Walter Fieldhouse will be complete by December. The facility’s steel framing is almost completely erected, and some roofing has recently been installed.
“The hardest work on a facility like this is the site work and the frame because once you get the frame up, you’ve got a lot of sheet metal, some brick … the glass and then all the finishing touches,” Lombardi said. “Our plan to finish it up this semester is still on track.”
Field hockey teams can play on thicker turf out of necessity — the Bobcats are practicing at Peden this week to prepare for an away game on a similar surface — but prefer field hockey turf, where the ball rolls on bent fibers that resemble a soft carpet or putting green more than regular grass.
“When the ball is (rolling) it is coming really flat and fast,” Macmillan said of Ohio’s AstroTurf. “On a filled surface like Peden is, it is bobbly and the ball is a little unpredictable at times.”
Field hockey pitches are also unlike other artificial surfaces in the respect that they should also be watered before use, as to prevent injury.
“It makes it slippery so we don’t tend to get our foot in a twist,” Macmillan said.
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