Immediate action must be taken to address the safety issues with the Stamford High School upper soccer/lacrosse turf field. The turf field was installed in 2018 but is no longer safe for players to use as they are constantly slipping, falling and risking injury.  The field has gotten progressively worse over the last couple of years, and we are concerned that failure to act immediately will likely result in serious injury to players. The conditions have deteriorated to the point teams cannot use the field or do not have full use of the field. Here are some specific examples:

   - Girls Lacrosse – The girls lacrosse teams do not use the field and have their games and practices in Boyle Stadium.

   - Boys Lacrosse - The boys varsity lacrosse team stopped playing games and having full speed practices on the field and uses Boyle Stadium for games and practices.

   - Girls Soccer – Last fall another town’s varsity girl’s soccer team refused to play on our field after hearing how bad our field is.

   - Boys Soccer -The boys soccer teams stopped practicing and playing games on the field. As a result, all scheduled home games must be played at the opponent’s school as the soccer teams cannot play in Boyle Stadium.

The City of Stamford has unsuccessfully attempted to improve the field by adding extra infill and grooming the turf fibers. The City of Stamford also conducted a test on the field that concluded it was safe to play on. Although deemed “safe”, it is obvious when watching the boys and girls play that the field is slippery. This slipping only happens on our turf field and other towns do not have this problem. The video below shows examples of soccer and lacrosse players slipping on a dry turf field. In the first boy’s varsity soccer home scrimmage this fall, players slipped over 25 times doing routine movements.

It is unacceptable that our soccer and lacrosse teams do not have a safe field to play on. We call on the Stamford Board of Education and the City of Stamford to take immediate action to replace the turf field for the safety of our student athletes and others who use it.