Wildcat athletics puts best turf forward as sports seasons kickoff for the new year

Lights, camera, football. West finally got a new turf field and it is generating many changes for the Wildcat athletic programs.

Brad Jodarski, Activities Coordinator at West, has a lot of things to manage throughout his day to day job, and this new turf will help him do so.

“I’m involved in many different aspects of athletics and activities,” he said. “That ranges from scheduling, processing payments, to hiring coaches. It’s kind of a hodgepodge of many different things.”

First and foremost, the new turf expands opportunities for events and practices.

“It’s definitely made things easier for our student athletes and coaches,” he said. “If the weather is an issue, we’re still able to practice and play games on the turf. Ideally, it’ll lead to less rescheduling of events.”

While they should be rescheduling fewer events, the new field has become a hot commodity for activities.

“It’s also made it a little bit more work in that we have to make a schedule because lots of different groups want access to this field,” Jodarski said. “We have conflicts going on so it’s just a bit more work. Everybody’s trying to use it.”

Making the transition easier was observing the installation and use of Oshkosh North’s turf, which occurred last year.

“Ours isn’t the same, ours is inside our track, and North’s is separate from their track,” he said. “The advantage for us going second is we were able to see if there were any hiccups with North’s.”

The process of installation seemingly went without hitches.

“Things went smoothly. They finished it ahead of schedule,” Jodarski said. “The field looks great. I’m super excited about it.”

This new turf can also expand and provide possibilities for the timing of events.

“I’m really appreciative of it. It’ll really benefit students who like Phy Ed, sports, or music,” Jodarski said. “We’re definitely going to get our bang for our buck. The lights are definitely a huge advantage for us and a huge bonus because we can now do things at night, which we couldn’t before.”

The sleek look of the field has created a new sense of community and pride for the Wildcat football team. Junior Gage Pinkall feels positively about the addition as a whole, both for the new turf as well as the heart attitude behind it.  

“I’d say it’s made the team more confident in general, the fact that the school is putting money toward the football program,” he said. “It makes the entire team feel more qualified for going against teams like Kimberly.” 

However, the turf can have some downsides, too. Playing on turf and playing on grass have definite differences. Players have noticed through practices and games on the new texture.

“Turf can be pretty painful when you fall on it. I think turf definitely does hurt more to fall on than grass,” Pinkall said. “However, it’s nice not falling into holes because our old field had a lot of holes you could fall into and twist your ankle.”

The actual construction of the turf field can also raise concerns for players. Turf is composed of turf pellets, a base material, and granular materials that are worked into that base material during the installation process. Athletes have reported feeling there is an excessive amount of these pellets.

Junior varsity soccer player Yosef Edsell has mixed feelings. 

“It’s alright. There’s too many pellets but I like it a lot better than the grass,” he said.

Varsity soccer player Jordan Gietman finds some difficulty in playing on the field. 

“With the amount of pellets that are there, it can make it a little more slippery and also a lot rougher on a surface if you slide,” he said. 

Senior varsity soccer player Jeevan Ambati sees the potential for the field to help students and coaches alike, through a more playable environment.

“I think it will help Oshkosh West athletics in the future a lot,” he said. 

by Anika Flores

Published October 2 2023

Oshkosh West Index Volume 120 Issue I