Design Considerations for Artificial Turf Football Fields
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One of the greatest debates surrounding sports is about which cleats to wear when playing on artificial turf. Whether you’re playing soccer, football, or baseball, you will be faced with a multitude of options when it comes to choosing a pair of cleats. Since there are different types of synthetic turf fields, there are different factors to take into account when deciding which cleats to wear.
Artificial Turf Cleats
The manufacturers of soccer cleats have identified the differences between the various types of surfaces that players regularly use. Artificial turf use is becoming more common in North America, as it’s a more versatile playing surface. The outdoor artificial fields that use rubber infill provide an experience that replicates the feeling of playing on a traditional grass field. Indoor fields often use a less lush and lifelike form of the synthetic turf that lasts a long time and requires different cleats.
Choosing the Correct Cleats
Many outdoor artificial turf fields allow players to wear their traditional hard surface cleats, as they will not damage the surface. They can also provide a high level of grip on the artificial turf. However, these are not the optimum cleats to wear on these modern, lush surfaces, as the studs on the sole do not penetrate the surface correctly. Instead, we recommend using an artificial surface cleat that has smaller, round studs designed specifically for artificial turf.
Cleat manufacturers are constantly looking to evolve the technology of sports cleats, which has led them to identify that cleats with a sole containing more studs work well on artificial turf’s dense surface.
The use of indoor turf has allowed manufacturers to create a completely different kind of shoe specifically for these surfaces. The indoor artificial turf cleat has many small dimples on its sole, which has a better grip and interacts well with the surface.
It can be expensive to buy cleats for any sport you’re taking part in, but these different cleats have their merits. For most artificial turf fields, a traditional pair of hard surface cleats will be acceptable to wear, but investing in a pair of synthetic field cleats is a good idea if you’ll be playing on artificial turf regularly.