Citrus College may have risked player safety to keep the 13 year-old turf

Players, staff and coaches say old field caused injuries and was not replaced soon enough.

Citrus College goalie Olivia Handy noticed a benefit to playing on the new synthetic field at Citrus Stadium — less blood.

The second-year soccer veteran said the old field would cut her and her teammates when they fell.

“It doesn’t bleed right away anymore,” Handy said. “I think it’s because there used to be more pellets.”

Handy was resting on a hallway floor of the physical education building when she said the new field only leaves abrasions. She rolled onto her side to show a scuff on her hip she earned earlier that week.

“Everytime they thought they needed to fix it, they just added more (pellets),” Handy said. “It’d burn a lot more easily.”

After 13 years of use, Citrus College replaced its field for $1.177 million. KYA group installed a new track and turf field. But coaches, staff and players have said delaying replacement risked safety. The company that installed the last field is at the center of a national fraud investigation.

At the Sept. 4 board of trustees meeting, director of facilities and construction Fred Diamond said he was relieved the project was done. He said the last artificial grass field exceeded expectations for length of use.

“We did receive concerns about the field being old,” Diamond wrote in an email.

The previous turf was installed by FieldTurf in September 2005. In addition to a fraud investigation FieldTurf faces class action lawsuits across the country for a faulty component of its product called Duraspine.

The synthetic grass deteriorated quicker than promised. Some Southern California schools made FieldTurf replace their fields. Others like Chaffey Joint Union High School joined lawsuits against the company.

Citrus did neither.  

“Our old field used to be the worst field anywhere in the whole southland,” said Fred Bruce-Oliver, men’s soccer head coach.

Bruce-Oliver said the former field ripped and had uneven playing surfaces. When there were rips  FieldTurf representatives would fill in more pellets and test the field.

Head football coach Ron Ponciano said when he asked a field turf representative if the field was safe after a test, the representative told him ‘Oh hell no.’

“I even went as far as talking to the people who tested these fields and said ‘these fields have tested fine’ and I looked at where they tested the field and I told them,” Ponciano said.

“He says ‘you’re 100 percent right.’ They tested them outside where the kids played, not where they played.”

Ponciano said noticed spikes in injuries on the old field and sharp decline on the new.

“The things I keep track of over the years were injuries last season,” Ponciano said. “I have kept my own numbers. I’m not comfortable sharing with you right now. The trainers would really tap dance around it, so that will be interesting.”

None of the athletic trainers contacted for this article said they could provide statistics on injuries, but referred questions to the head athletic trainer, Steve Handy.

Handy said the former field was unsafe and should have replaced sooner.

“The turf is safe as long as it’s in the allotted time that a turf field will last,” Handy said. “We went a little bit beyond before we replaced it.

“These fields were unsafe at this point and I would say that’s been over the last two or three years.

“Our previous dean fought for getting it but to replace the field is a lot of money and the administration felt that it was unattainable for the last couple of years.”

The new turf system has 18,000 fibers per stitch in the new field. The fibers are made with higher yarn density to increase durability.

Coaches said they are glad to have the new field, so they do not have to worry about non-contact injuries.

“I have seen way fewer injuries than I use to,” football head coach Ron Ponciano said. “I would keep track and it’s like no one cared and that infuriates me.

Charter Oak, Baldwin Park and West Covina high schools have had complaints about their artificial fields provided by FieldTurf.

Diamond said in an email he did not receive complaints about injuries.

“No, but I don’t deal with players,” Diamond said in an email. “Athletics deals with the players.”

Citrus Stadium hosts football games for Azusa Pacific University, Glendora, Gladstone and Azusa high schools. Citrus men’s and women’s soccer uses the field as well as the Citrus football team.

The new installation company will test the turf for shock absorption, traction, and safety.

“The bottom line is that the field got done not a minute too soon; not a second too soon,” coach Ponciano said.

Editor-in-chief James Duffy contributed to this article.

The title was corrected to “Citrus College may have risked player safety to keep the 13 year-old turf” from “Citrus College may have risked player safety to keep the 11 year-old turf.”