Synthetic Turf Council Launches the 'Search for the Real Field of Dreams(TM)'

/PRNewswire/ -- From 'Rudy' to 'Remember the Titans,' everyone knows a heartwarming sports story. Unfortunately, some of the best stories are never heard. That's why the Synthetic Turf Council is launching the Search for the Real Field of Dreams, a national contest looking for the high school with the most compelling story about its synthetic turf field. Synthetic turf empowered the Barrow Whalers to become the first Arctic high school football team in northern Alaska and helped Lakeland High School in Shrub Oak, New York win the New York State Field Hockey Championship in 2006. With more than 1,000 synthetic turf fields installed in the United States annually, the success stories are endless.

"We've seen the way synthetic turf fields have helped teams go from worst to first and brought together entire communities," said STC president Rick Doyle. "It's important for the inspirational stories behind these fields to be shared. The pride high school students have in their sports teams is unique, and the Search gives them an opportunity to inspire others nationwide."

The Search for the Real Field of Dreams is open to any public or private high school in the United States that has a synthetic turf field. A winning school will be selected in April by an outside panel of judges and will win $2,500 for its athletic program, along with a sign recognizing its field as a contribution to the overall success of its athletic program. In addition, the second place school will receive $500 and eight national finalists will receive $250 for their schools. Interested students, coaches, faculty and parents can nominate their school by filling out the application at www.syntheticturfcouncil.org. Entries are due by March 31, 2009.

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CPSC Staff Finds Synthetic Turf Fields OK to Install, OK to Play On

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) staff today released its evaluation of various synthetic athletic fields. The evaluation concludes that young children are not at risk from exposure to lead in these fields.

CPSC staff evaluation showed that newer fields had no lead or generally had the lowest lead levels. Although small amounts of lead were detected on the surface of some older fields, none of these tested fields released amounts of lead that would be harmful to children.

Lead is present in the pigments of some synthetic turf products to give the turf its various colors. Staff recognizes that some conditions such as age, weathering, exposure to sunlight, and wear and tear might change the amount of lead that could be released from the turf. As turf is used during athletics or play and exposed over time to sunlight, heat and other weather conditions, the surface of the turf may start to become worn and small particles of the lead-containing synthetic grass fibers might be released. The staff considered in the evaluation that particles on a child's hand transferred to his/her mouth would be the most likely route of exposure and determined young children would not be at risk.

Although this evaluation found no harmful lead levels, CPSC staff is asking that voluntary standards be developed for synthetic turf to preclude the use of lead in future products. This action is being taken proactively to address any future production of synthetic turf and to set a standard for any new entrants to the market to follow.

As an overall guideline, CPSC staff recommends young children wash their hands after playing outside, especially before eating.