Many technological innovations have reached the sports facility market in recent times. For athletic events that take place on the world stage, engineers and designers are constantly bringing new ideas to enhance the player and audience experience.
One of the latest technological advancements in sports facilities involves the composition of its playing field. Natural Grass, a company that specializes in developing innovative natural surfaces, is working with to improve the 2016 UEFA European Championships, taking place in France from June 10th to July 10th 2016. They are utilizing a new high-tech turf that combines real grass with synthetic microfibers and cork. Because of frequent rainfall during this time, normal newly laid grass can attract too many problems involving injury to players playing an intense game.
“The pitches should be better and we’re not happy,” tournament director Martin Kallen told reporters. “We have taken measures to preserve pitches but in a summer tournament you don’t expect it to rain so much.”
Excessive rain is not a problem for this new grass. AirFibr is made of plain grass, but the roots are embedded in synthetic fibers rather than soil. AirFibr’s extra-fine silica sand allows for rain drainage without getting too muddy so the pitch never gets dried out or flooded. The 150 billion synthetic microfibers in its substrate allow AirFibr to offer an all-weather resistance guarantee for the most intensive uses.
Compressed cork material is used as an organic shock absorber. As players run, the air is squeezed out of the cork, cushioning the impact before springing back into shape so the turf never deteriorates. Cork has an unlimited ability to re-load itself with air. After compression, cork gets immediately reloaded with air, and the playing surface takes back its initial shape. This way, playing surfaces using the AirFibr technology have a real shape memory. The granulated corks tangled in the fibers heighten shock absorption when players hit the surface, reducing the risks of players’ injury by 20% to 40%.
“When people perform sports on AirFibr the soil is able to absorb the energy of the shock and hence protect the athletes,” commented Dr Sylvain Massip, coordinator of the ScalinGreen project which helps fund the company to scale up AirFibr.
To confirm their design, the team decided to conduct tests with players, taking note of the force applied as they performed various maneuvers on the pitch. They found that athletes received 40% less impact on their body when playing on the grass. This radical new turf is clearly much easier on players’ ankles and knees than normal earth. The hybrid grass technology is is even designed for stadium and training pitches for high-caliber football and rugby players. It is made entirely of natural grass anchored in an artificial rootzone formed with sand, synthetic microfibers and granulated natural cork.
As the UEFA Euro 2016 and other important sporting events take place, Natural Grass will continue to implement their AirFibr technology in the most prominent sports facilities. Thanks to its design and natural growth abilities, professional players will always experience a renewed comfort when they are training on AirFibr turf.