MVRHS FIELD USE Mark McCarthy, ATC, CAA Certified Athletic Trainer Certified Athletic Administrator Athletic Director, MVRHS My Role in this Process: I am the athletic director at MVRHS and have been since 2009. My expertise is athletics – 35 years in the field of athletics Athletic Injury management, prevention, and rehabilitation Athletic department budgeting, uniform and supply acquisition, staffing, transportation, and field needs and preparation. I have been part of this field upgrade process since it’s inception in 2012, the only person within the school community who has been. I have the most experience with this project. • HIGH SCHOOLS: APPLES TO APPLES • Apples to Apples refer to comparisons of regional high school fields and field use. • Comparisons with professional teams, international soccer clubs, or colleges are not relevant in this discussion. • OUR FIELDS • STUDENT ATHLETE’S VOICE Apples to Apples MARBLEHEAD HIGH SCHOOL • YOU HEARD FROM MR. ELVIN A BRIEF ON THE HORSELY WHITTEN REPORT ABOUT MARBLEHEAD HIGH SCHOOL AND HOW THEY BELIEVED GRASS COULD WORK BASED ON THEIR REVIEW. • WHAT YOU DIDN’T HEAR. Marblehead High School website Marblehead High School (M.H.S), 2 Humphrey Street - Field use plan Sport Varsity Sub-Varsity Location Baseball x Lower Field Basketball x x Field House Field Hockey x x Piper Field Lacrosse x x Piper Field Soccer x Piper Field Tennis x x Tennis Courts Football x x Piper Field Volleyball x x Field House What you didn’t hear was that Piper Field at Marblehead High School Is a Synthetic Surface Field Piper Field Marblehead High School • Asst. AD Mark Tarmey at Marblehead was a major force getting Piper Field installed. • “Piper Field was a “God Send” for our athletic program”. • Their grass field couldn’t hold up to the use. • Minimal maintenance: • 20-30 minutes per week sweeping • G-Max testing annually • In addition they also have the youth sports of soccer, football, flag football, and lacrosse use Piper Field • High school maintains the Piper Field while the park and rec department crew maintain their grass fields. Cape and Islands Schools Apples to Apples Monomoy Regional High School, Harwich Mass. Monomoy High School is a regional school comprising of the Chatham and Harwich communities. Nauset Regional High School Eastham, Mass. Falmouth High School Falmouth, Mass. Nantucket High School & Island • Wear shown on the grass field. • Turf put in on Land Bank land but maintained by the Community School. • Nantucket is in the planning stages of a project similar to ours at their high school. Barnstable High School Hyannis, Mass. Turf Field Maintenance • Maintenance of a turf field has been cited in more than several correspondences to the MVC, with little to no evidence claiming high maintenance costs for turf. • As cited by Scott Thomas, turf field maintenance is minimal with regular grooming. • Sandwich AD, Neil Murphy has provided me with their annual maintenance cost for their turf field. Sandwich High School Sandwich, Mass. Mass. Maritime Academy Buzzards Bay, Mass. Used by St. John Paul II High School, Hyannis, Mass. Here you have a Maritime Academy dedicated to ocean preservation and maritime life with 2 turf fields directly on the Cape Cod Canal 2 Synthetic Surface fields • Football and Soccer • Football practice and Field Hockey • Cape Cod Canal Carver High School, Carver, Mass. Phyllis Bowie, Athletic Director from Carver,Cranberry stated Bogs to me that = Cranberry Bogs the turf has transformed their Pre-Turf Conditions athletic program. Weston High School, Weston Mass. Hull High School, Hull, Mass. Surrounded by water Before Turf Complex was added After Turf Complex was added Plymouth South High School Plymouth North High School Southeastern Multiple Turf Fields Multiple Turf Fields Vocational School Cohassett High School Blue Hills Vocational School MVRHS Field Use History We are talking about replacing our stadium field. This is the field that is worn out. Games played: Football x 8 games average per year, including JV Boys and girls varsity soccer – 18 games averaged per year Boys and girls lacrosse – 28 games averaged per year, including JV Our stadium field is used for less than ½ of the hours that the experts say grass fields can support and it shows the most wear. Our stadium gets the most maintenance and least amount of use and it still looks like this. As just shown, this is a common problem with high schools, especially in the Northeast. In stead of using what should be our prize field we protect it, just to keep it playable. Turf will allow us to use our field, not protect it from use. We will ALWAYS have to protect a grass field from use. Bare spots are still visible in the high traffic areas of the lacrosse goal creases and faceoff areas from the PREVIOUS spring lacrosse season which ended in June. Just when the spring sports season and grass growing season is ending, the heat of summer begins, proving the grass can’t recover from the previous years wear and tear. Bare spots can be seen in the goal areas for soccer. Just as we are starting the fall season, and grass recovery is beginning, we are once again wearing the grass down with high school game play. MIAA Tournament Host Site Requirements. • Our field could very easily be cited as a field that doesn’t meet MIAA standards due to field conditions. • I have had officials state to me that, in a turf field world, our grass field is one of the worst fields in Eastern Mass. and that playing of a grass field these days is rare. • MIAA State Tournament games from the Semi-Finals on will be played on turf for Football, Soccer, Field Hockey, and Lacrosse. This project is what our student- athletes and coaches long for. Please don’t ignore the Students’ Voice MV TIMES: Student Rally March 20, 2021 As you heard Gabe Bellebuono testify, Please don’t ignore your students! We say it is about our kids – well our kids want this. In Closing Grass fields at MVRHS, and local area high schools, have a proven history of failure due to overuse. Synthetic surface fields are safe to play on. Dr. Halsey and athletic trainer Tania Laslovich, our medical team, shared with you real life experience about injury rates on Martha’s Vineyard. The peer reviewed studies they researched showed that turf is safe to play on. Concussion Statistics – decrease concussions by 100 (using MV data over the past 15 years) with the use of turf with a Brock Pad. My professional experience treating concussions at the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, as their Concussion Program Director, preventing concussions, injuries to children’s brains, has to be a priority. Please: Be objective and follow the science and evidence provided to you. Consider the students and coaches desires and their experiences on these and other fields. Listen to the experts you hired and the people hired to do their jobs who have determined this is what is right and safe for the school and island. Character: To an athlete on Martha’s Vineyard, this is a sight for sore eyes. Is A truly better than B? A B Thank You.