Artificial flavor

The Grain Valley marching band is practicing on the searing asphalt in the school parking lot, just south of the high school.
The Eagles football team is taking snaps on a muddy practice field, just south of that parking lot.
Those sights will soon be a distant memory as work crews put the finishing touches on the Eagles new synthetic Sprint Turf football field – which will allow the football, soccer, baseball and softball teams to use the new surface – along with the marching band.
“It’s going to be great,” Eagles coach Forrest Rovello said. “You know, we move up from (Class 3 to Class 4) and you need to make improvements like this to compete with the big boys.”
The new field will not only benefit the Eagles football team.
“Everyone will benefit because it’s not just for football,” said Eagles activities director Jeff Tebbenkamp, “although it’s going to be great when we play our first game on the new turf. I think it’s going be among the best fields in the state.”
Because of weather conditions, the field will not be ready for the Eagles annual football jamboree, which has been moved to Pleasant Hill and is scheduled for Friday, Aug. 22.
But Tebbenkamp expects it to be ready for the home opener against Lincoln Prep on Aug. 29.
“We’re all ready to play on that new field,” Rovello said. “It’s the same type turf the Chiefs have – state of the art. Weather will no longer be a factor for our games. It can rain all night on this stuff, and you’d never know it.
“It’s great. We won’t have to worry about sloppy weather conditions, which makes a better football game.”
The field features a natural green surface with white numbers, shadowed in Grain Valley blue.
“A lot of schools pick their school colors for the color of the turf,” Tebbenkamp said, “and we had that option. But we like the natural look for the turf. And the blue-shadow effect really makes the numbers stand out.”
The field is also expanded, and marked for soccer, which begins next spring at Grain Valley.
The girls program will start in the spring of 2009 and the boys program will get under way the following fall.
“It’s ready for soccer,” Tebbenkamp said. “If it’s wet, the baseball and softball teams can practice on it. The marching band can now practice right on the field. You can use it 24/7 – which is a huge plus for all our programs.”
The Eagles athletic complex is also getting a new eight-lane running track. Workmen were cleaning off the track as they prepared to put down the cushioned, running surface.
Nemaha, a company out of Lincoln, Neb., did all the turf work for the field.
“This turf offers the best of all previous turfs,” Tebbenkamp said. “It has the smaller blades and the larger blades, that are split like a real blade of grass. And it’s filled with crystallized rubber, not crushed rubber tires.
“Rubber tires are a part of the track, but not the turf on the football field.”