of sportsfi el ds. The A mer ican Societ y
tbr Testi ng and Materi a ls ( ASTM ) has
ut ilizing a
devel opeda set of procedr - r r es
devi cecal l edthe C l eggImpactSoil t est er
har dnessof
(C IS T) to assessthe sr-rr f ace
N orth A rneri canfbotba ll f lelds ( ASTM
F 1936-98).
The C l eggl mpactSoil Test er( CI ST)
h a rd n e ss are the al l -too-often resl tl ts
is a device that can be r-rsedto measllre
By Brad Park, Rutgers UniversitY
o f th e d i si ntegrati onof turfgrasscover.
surfacehardness.The CI ST consist sof
park@aesop. rutgers.edu
F o r s y ntheti cfi el ds, ol der surfacesare
a cyl i ndri cal i mpact m issile enclosed
A c om m onat t r ib u teo f h e a v i l y -u s e d often replaced dr-reto surf-acehardness i n a tube that createsrninir nalf r ict ion.
naturaltr,rrffields and worn-out synthetic i s s u e s and subsequentconcerns over
The rni ssi l e i s dropped at a pr escr ibed
is unacceptableplaying sttrface player saf-ety.
sr-rrf-aces
hei ght of 2.0-ft on the sur f 'acet o be
A systernati cInexnsi s necessaryto
h a rd nes s . ln t he ca s e o f n a tu ra l tu rf
tested. The C IS T i s equippedwit h an
andevalttatethe surfacehardness
fi e l d s . s oil c om pa c ti o n a n d s u rfa c e rneasure
accel erati ontransducerand a hand- held
el ectroni cdi spl aythat a llows t he usert o
record val uesgeneratedby t he CI ST in
is a measltreof peak
units of Gu,,*.Gn,o*
i s the ir npactener gy
w
hi
ch
decel erati on,
of the mi ssi l e absorbedby t he sur f ace.
The hrgher the peak decelerationvah-re
(G,,,.) the l nore energy being r et ur ned
to the obj ect contacti n gt he sur f ace,or
the harder the sr.rrface.To put this in
Like port of ony good recipe, the proper omountof waler at
a
R ogerset al. ( 1988)t br - r nd
perspecti ve,
t h e n i g h t ti me w i l l e n h o n c eo n d profect your furf.
concretebasementfloor produceda value
the C IS T and was r educed
of 1280r" rsi ng
w
hen
the
samefloor was cover ed
to
260
Don't let on outomotic undergroundsprinkler system be
pad.
w
i
th
a
carpet
y o u r f o c i l i ty ' s mi s s i n gi ngredi enl.
The A meri can S o ciet y f or Test ing
and Materi al sgui del i n esf or t est ingt he
,,i,-rf.
,)f,+
surface hardness of Nor t h Am er ican
footbal l fi el ds cal l s for a "dr op t est "
SPRING.I.X- I-.
usi ng the C IS T at si x specif ied point s
CO , INC,
IRRIGATION
throughouta footbal l f ield, including a
goal 1ine,hashmark on the 25-yd line and
MAINTENANCE
INSTALLATTON
DE5I6N
mi d-fi el d at the 50-yd 1ine. Accor ding
a d r op t estconslst s
to the speci fi cati ons,
of threesuccessi vedro ps wit h 3- m inut e
pausesal l ow ed i n bet ween individr "r al
5PRIN6IRRIGATIONCO.,INC
drops. The G,,,",valuesare recordedand
P O . B O X523
the 2'd and 3'd value are added and the
(732)
821'5767
DAvroN, NJ 08810
to the
sum is divided by two and ror-rnded
(732)
821-0130
t+ l5O4O
FAX
LTCENSE
NJ TRRTGATTON
value
nuinber. The G,,,.,^
whole
nearest
spri ngi rr@ netzero.com
I A CE RT T F I ED E SIGN ER# 1 8 0 1 8 6
from the l " drop i s di sr egar ded.
N umerous paramet er s should be
reportedat the time of testing. In a natural
telnperature
turfgrasssystem,the sr"rrface
of the fi el d shoLrl dbe m easur ed at a
depthof 0.5-i nch. A dd it ionally,a visual
of turfgras scover ( e. g.257o,
assessment
90% , etc.)and soi l moist ur e( dr y, dam p,
w et, saturated, etc.) s hould be m ade
shoul dbe recordedat eacht est point .
Under a PerformanceRequirement
headingdescribedin theASTM Standard,
val ue at any single t est
the averageGn,o,
poi nt shal 1not exceed200 when t est ed
from a drop-hei ght of 2. 0- f t . The
standard further notes that the suriace
system (natr.rralturfgrassor synt het ic)
shor-rl dbe repl acedei t her in f ull or in
part i f one or more of t he t est edpoint s
RutgersCorner- The Clegg and measuring
playing surfacehardness
,,JT/STADD WATEP."""
Sports Field ManagersAssociationof New Jersey
is determined to have an average G,,,"*
valu ee xce eding200. A S TM a d o p te dth e
m a xi mu m im pac t lev el o f 2 0 0 a v e ra g e
Gma x fo r us e bec aus et h i s v a l u e w a s
acceptedby the U.S. Consr,rrner
Product
Sa fe ty Cor nm is s ion f or s i mi l a r te s t
me th o d s.
References
ASTM. 1999.Standardspecification
for shock-absorbingpropertiesof North
American football field playing systems
as me a su r edin t he f ield. D e s i g n a ti o n :
F 19 3 6 -9 8.
Ro g er s , J . N. , D. V . W a d d i n g to n ,
and J.C. Har per . 1988. R e l a ti o n s h i p s
betw e e n a t hlet ic f ield h a rd n e s s a n d
traction, vegetation,soil properties,and
ma i n te n a n c epr ac t ic es .Pa . A g ri c . E x p .
St n . Pro g . Rep. 393. e
*basedon photosand a sitevisit by
the SFMANJ Award Committee
*feel freeto havc spoftsgroupsin
your photo
AWARDS:
Winnerswill be honoredwith a
plaqueat New JerseyTurf GrassExpo
in December2005 and be interviewed
for a featurearlicle in SFMANJ
"UPDATE" (Also receivea two-night
stay at Taj Mahl, Atlantic City and
threedays of education)
NOTE:
xphotoswill not be returnedand may
be usedon SFMANJ websiteand
promotionalsettings.r
Questionand Answer
Question: How do I calculatethe amount
of topdressing
neededfor my athletic
field'?
Answer: To calculatethe amountof
topdressingneededfor your athlctic field
multiply the length in feet x width in feet
x depthi n i nchesx .0031.
Exumple: Calculatethe amountof topdressingneededto topdressa soccerfield
measuring360' x 210' with t/q"topdressi ng.
210' x 360'x .25" x.0031 - 58. 59
cubic yards of material .
UCTAHOE
URTHRMS
401MryfieAve.
P0Box148
Hammonton.
NJ
08037
Sports Field of The Year
(F.o.Y.)
ProudofYour Field?
Want to Show Off
Your Hard Work?
SFMANJ is inauguratingan annual
New Jersey"field of the year" contest.
Individual awardswill be oresented
to the school,*F.O.Y." and parks/
recreation"F.0.Y."
ENTERING is easy,sendto:
SFMANJ Contest,Po Box 370,
Annandale,NJ 08801
Entriesmust be receivedbv
September
30, 2005
. HleHCUA|ITY
f,euJeneyCortlfied
Btuogns& Femue
Sod
o 8ROWil01tHAilil0tfT0llsanef,loam-type
soit{B$92%sand}
r 700-acra
fam allarr deliuedm
lc theiloilhoastern
statsssr
wheteuor
sandsodls needsd
forspeciallzed
modeln
athletic
fields
. LIB0R-SAU!LG
BIGR0LLS,
callforcuEtom
imtallaliol
FlsaEG
priccs
gUTSOD*ltft asmuchas1 g/4"ssill0rrcpalr
o THIGK
lcb
ELIGIBILITY:
xtwo categories;
Schoolor Parks/
Recreation
fieldsonly
*currentmemberof SFMANJ
xnaturalgrassfields
SEND:
xcolor photosofyour naturalgrass
field (10 maximum)
*name of facility and location
*name of owner
xyour name,position and contact
numoer
T'he"{irrr*s lndustry'"$upptier
t{ rI,ilR}f}}i.llii }f tl :c'$ tr(}RI I {ri
'fl'RIi ri I{{lRllt,l:I jjl lRjll- p}tOFljssi0tr\lAl.
CRITERIA for awards:
*playability and appearance
of the
playing surfaces
rrider@ fi sheralrclson.com
Januarv/Februarv 2005
RANDY RIDER
302:UZ"{'&t8
11