New type of turf cools down KC fields more than 20 degrees
LEE’S SUMMIT, Mo. — At the youth level in suburban Missouri, one soccer complex is using a different type of turf to keep the fields cooler.
The Paragon Star Sports Complex uses a type of artificial turf for its players called BrockFILL. It uses little particles of wood as opposed to rubber, to actually cool down the fields.
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“This, where rubber sprays when you cut, this material actually holds its ground,” Paragon Star Director of Sports Operations Chris Duke said in an interview with FOX4 Friday. “The fields were not only put together with Brock Infill but Brock Shock Pad.”
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Brock Shock Pad helps to try to decrease concussions. BrockFILL can keep artificial turf fields 20 to 50 degrees cooler than normal. Shock Pad and BrockFILL are both made by Brock USA out of Boulder, Co.
“The wood is absorbing the water, and it goes through an engineered process to make,” Brock Central Region Vice President Jim Froslid said. “It’s a game changer because these athletes can now play in the middle of the day or on a 90-degree day, and the field is maybe 110 degrees where with rubber, they can get as high as 160, 170 degrees.”
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Brock USA workers were at Paragon Star and other fields that use artificial rubber turf Thursday. Froslid says when the temperatures were near 100 degrees, the Paragon Star fields were on average 20 degrees cooler than the rubber ones.
“It was a huge breakthrough for them because there are so many artificial turf complexes in Kansas City,” Froslid said of Paragon Star. “In fact, I would say, per capita, there’s no other city in the country that has many as complexes, artificial turf, than Kansas City.”
Duke says the Paragon Star ownership group spent millions of dollars for this type of turf.”
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“We’re one of the only complexes in the Midwest that has more than ten fields that have the Brock Infill and the Brock Pad.”
Froslid says Paragon Star was the first complex in the metro to buy the BrockFILL. One high school athletic leader we talked to Friday hadn’t even heard of this fairly new type of surface.
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“That business has changed a lot, and that technology and materials have changed a lot through the years,” Kansas High School Activities Association Director of Operations Brent Unruh said. “You think back of 20 or 25 years ago, it was a green carpet you were playing on that was just basically green carpet laid on top of concrete, the old Astro Turf days, and now with this Field Turf with the rubber infill like we’ve talked about, that’s been a tremendous advancement, but yeah, it’ll be interesting to see where this goes.”
Paragon Star canceled soccer matches Tuesday through Friday due to the heat. They will resume matches Saturday.
