Is turf a field of dreams for hockey teams?
By ADAM HIMMELSBACH When field hockey is played on turf rather than grass, the game is more pure. Passes do not hit rocks. Shots do not skip off of clumps of dirt. The ball does not slow down if the blades have not been mowed down. And if it rains, the field does not transform into a swamp. That is one of the reasons the Virginia High School League holds its field hockey state championships on artificial turf at the USA Field Hockey National Training Center in Virginia Beach. So why, then, would many of the state’s field hockey coaches rather play the state tournament on grass? Why would they take the risk of bad weather or bad bounces or a slower game caused by big blades of grass? Well, they would rather stay off the artificial turf because some of their opponents are more familiar with it, and they think that can put their teams at a disadvantage in the biggest games of the season. “There’s a whole new skill set that comes with playing on artificial turf,” said Catherine Green, the
