ASHWAUBENON – After 13 years of use, Ashwaubenon High School has replaced its field turf.

Ashwaubenon High School Activities Director/Associate Principal Nick Senger said the new turf comes at a time when many area schools that first installed turf more than a decade ago are now having to replace their original surfaces.

“I know Notre Dame Academy replaced its turf last year, and I know Bay Port and West De Pere are probably right up there soon, too,” he said. “When I came to Ashwaubenon, the turf had been in use for only one season – it’s been a long time coming.”

Senger said work on installing the turf began on June 3 and took a little more than a month to complete.

“AstroTurf Great Lakes [out of Michigan] did the work,” he said. “From sunup to sundown, they worked around the clock to complete the field. They are probably one of about four or five companies in the Midwest that do this type of work. They’re a great company with great workers that installs a great product.”

Senger said school districts can expect between 10 and 20 years of use on such a playing surface, with several factors determining the timeframe.

He said a company like AstroTurf Great Lakes performs various tests and gives its honest opinions on what options schools have.

“They obviously look at the turf, the seams – which are glued together – and complete something called a G-Max test,” Senger said. “It basically checks to see how much bounce is left in the field and measures how well it absorbs the ‘shock’ from a player’s impact.”

Senger said AstroTurf Great Lakes’ G-Max test number is supposed to be less than 160, and Ashwaubenon’s original playing surface was creeping close to that threshold.

“There are a few things you can do,” he said. “You can add some in-fill, but that will only push off putting in a new playing surface for a bit. The other option replacing the turf. We want our athletes who use the field to be safe. Safety is our utmost priority, and we will not compromise that.”

Like many other industries, Senger said the technology used in field turf projects has improved dramatically since the school’s turf was first installed 13 years ago.

With the latest upgrade underneath the surface, a shock pad was installed to aid in absorption and provide another layer of protection.

“The weight of the turf is heavier – they call it a pile weight,” Senger said. “With many colleges and high schools putting in field turf, a 60-ounce pile weight is becoming more prevalent. When we first put in our original turf, the pile weight was 38 – that was pretty much as high as you could go back then.”

Pile weight is the weight of the grass fibers per square yard, excluding the backing material.
Measured in ounces, a higher pile weight directly affects the turf’s density, durability and feel, leading to a more abrasion-resistant surface that is better at withstanding heavy foot traffic.

“Some people might forget that this isn’t just about Ashwaubenon High School athletics,” Senger said. “Our physical education classes, our band and the middle school are out here a ton. You can use field turf nearly every day, despite the weather. The same can’t be said for natural-grass fields.”

From a maintenance perspective, Senger said he can’t imagine how many man-hours go into a natural grass playing field every year.

“I’d be strictly guessing, but I wouldn’t doubt if it’s more than 500 hours a year,” he said. “That obviously includes striping the field, all summer having to cut it every two or three days, the cost of watering, applications, etc. When you take 500-plus hours a year multiplied by 13 years, that’s a lot of financial cost. That’s not even including the fact that field turf is pretty much always available, no matter what Mother Nature throws our way.”

How it was funded

Senger said many area field turf projects were originally funded through grants, but once school districts need to replace their playing surface, they must go through alternate means of funding.

He said Ashwaubenon’s new field turf was installed due to the generosity of private donors.

In other words, he said, no school district funds were used in the process.

“We had multiple donors step up, which we were very appreciative of,” Senger said. “With tight budgets, obviously, we don’t want to take away from academic programs to fund something like this. Some people might be okay with that, while others say we need to fundraise for it – that’s what we did.”

Senger said donors of Ashwaubenon’s new field turf include:

Platinum donor: Auto Select Green Bay

Gold donors: Emplify Health by Bellin; Capital Credit Union; Jaguar Backers

Silver donors: Besaw and Kozloski family; Steve and Rosanne VanLaanen family; Halron Lubricants

Bronze donor: Ashwaubenon Lions Football

“The cost to resurface a field is currently anywhere from $650,000 to $900,000,” Senger said. “Obviously, it’s not cheap, so we couldn’t have done this without our donors. The cost depends on what’s underneath and the amount of work needed.”