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Soccer Field Playing Conditions

Before going further, my hat goes off to JL Mann soccer team.  I am friends with many players and parents from that program.  They are a quality team, have a great coach, and run a great program.  Big Thumbs Up.

Now, reason for post.

Big Thumbs Down to JL Mann administration, coach, and Athletic Director for their subpar "third world" rate soccer playing field.   It is an absolute shame and embarrassment that a program of such high esteem and magnitude has a playing field that is absolutely hands down one of the worst fields a team could be playing on during the regular season and ultimately during the playoffs.  It was eye opening and shocking to walk up and see what was being used as a soccer playing field.  If I had bucket of water, I could have made 10 sand castles on the field for kids to play in - this is no joke.  Quite literally, you talk about having a home playing field advantage, that was unreal.  It is one thing when all teams and players are used to playing on similar surfaces, but this was outrageous to watch how balls bounced and went in directions not anticipated because of uneven field levels or from hitting sand pits.  I guess if you play there all the time you get used to it.  Very unfair advantage when you factor in a dimension to the game that can change things tremendously. 

SCHSL ought to have a minimum acceptable set of standards that teams must have to play on.  Not sure who all here on the forum has played on JL Mann's home field,  but the conditions for playoffs games were horrendous and a disgrace. When Northwestern played their playoff game, it was said that you could have brought Weedeaters from home to cut the knee high weeds in corners and on the field where boys were playing and taking corner kicks.  I quite literally laughed off this comment thinking that no high school soccer field, especially one from a great AAAA program like JL Mann, could be that bad.  My how I was so wrong to dismiss my good friend from Northwestern.  Seeing is believing, I am not making this up.  When we arrived on Saturday and I first walked up, my JAW DROPPED OPEN.  It harkens back to a sandlot field which is nothing but sand, divets, potholes, and weeds.  Please understand, grass fields have wear and tear and one expects to see maybe a bare patch here and there, our practice fields certainly do, but what I am talking about is a field with hundreds of bare patches, no grass whatsoever. Having spoken to multiple people who either played there or knew someone who did for the playoffs = Northwestern, Greenwood, DFHS - this field was horrid and dangerous to be playing on.  Their practice/warmup field had more grass, less potholes, and looked like a better playing surface.  

It is shameful and disgraceful when you have access to high quality grass/turf soccer playing fields in the surrounding area (less than 2-5 miles away) yet you choose to put players at risk by playing on a very dangerous field where players get hurt - twisted ankles, sand kicked in players eyes, people tripping because of uneven surfaces. It was encouraged to tape players ankles as a preventative caution. Crazy.

Thank goodness that our Region IV rival partner, Blythwood High School, will not have to play on that field with those dangerous conditions. At least it will truly be an "Equal Playing Field" as it relates to field conditions.

Is there a minimum acceptable safe playing field requirement already in place as set forth by the SCHSL?  If not, this needs to be looked at because of the exact situations stated above. Player safety ought to be a priority on the field not just when the game is being played, but also before they ever step foot on field to be played on.

Tazman:
I too was shocked at the poor condition of the JL Mann field. This is one of the top soccer programs in the state when you factor in boys and girls!! I expected a far better pitch!

We lost there 4-0... i do NOT think that score was a direct result of the field but it sure did not help. The proof is that we beat JL Mann at our field in February of this year!

I do not in any way hold the JL Mann coaching staff responsible for the condition of the field. The fact that, sitting on the visitor bench, that you can see 20 yards of the face of the other sideline is a crime to high school soccer. Before we played at JL Mann, i got several scouting reports. They all talked about the poor quality of the field and how if you played a ball up the one sideline, that the pass would roll up the little hill and back down, almost like a skateboarder... those reports also talked about how bad the center of the field is and how grass is sporadic at best. It is tough to take a kickoff or PK b/c of all the damage lacrosse has done to the field.

This is the exact same field and layout that i played at JL Mann when my Riverside team beat them in the 1995 playoffs. The only difference is that the home and visitor sides are now switched and the parking lot is on the new home side. I cannot believe that everyone looks at that field and says "yep, that is what we are going with and we are proud of it".

Perhaps in retirement, i will lobby to become the "Certifier of Game Fields" for the SCHSL. I will drive to every high school and inspect all of their athletic fields to certify them for use. If they are not certified, then i will give input on how they need to be modified in order to be certified for use.

As the parent of a player who played against Mann and in the Greenville County School District you are spot on. Mann along with most of the fields in Greenville county are terrible. It is a shame because this is the largest and richest school district in the state yet parents have to sometimes go out and cut the grass not to mention provide transportation to away games. My sons team had to buy their own uniforms last year and they were the State Champions. Now if you look at the salaries of the district administrators you will see the story- six figure salaries are the norm not the exception. It was only a few years back that the county began providing any money at all for athletics before that the booster clubs footed the bill.

I will put in my opinion since this is my game field. A majority of Greenville County have the worst playing fields in the state. I completely agree with this post and here are some contributing factors. This past fall a company sprayed a chemical on the field which killed the fescue and harmed the bermuda grass, secondly the sprinkler system broke limiting the ability to water the field down the middle, and third we have 7 teams in the Spring that use this as the game field. Our practice field is worse if you can imagine that. As much money as you would think Greenville County has it comes down to they don't. Because the county is not broken up into individual districts but is considered one district with a large number of schools, the amount of money the school receives is sad. Trust me, I would love to have facilities like Dorman and Spartanburg but the fact is most Greenville County schools are limited with budgets. We as coaches of our sport at JL Mann are required to cut the field ourselves and we have tried to make the best of it this year. For the Northwestern game the field was cut to 1-1/2" the only weeds were against the surrounding fence and nowhere near the field of play. The field was better last year and I have been told that the sprinkler system is being replaced this summer which will help for next year. I hope!!!!!!! As far as using another field to play on I would love to if I had money in the budget. I had to get donations from parents just to pay for 3 officials for some of our Region games this year so if anybody out there has any other ideas then please send them to my AD because individual coaches have no say when it comes to budgets for field maintenance.

Again, I will apologize for our field but it is no home field advantage, it limits us just as much as it does our opponents. I would love a flat wide field for my 16 premier players and 1 academy player to be able to move a ball on like we did at Dorman who has a perfect pitch to play on. I think the schools should be held to a size and condition standard for soccer fields so you don't go to schools like Riverside that play on 53 yards wide with the last 2 yards on both side sloping out of play or go to Wade Hampton who play the width of a football field and any player with an average throw in can whip it to the back post or to my field where you can't make a 5 yard pass without the ball bouncing up to your knees. Again, I would love to have a better field but the reality is we don't.

If you would like to ask CESA why we cant use the fields at Wenwood which is owned by the county that we be great. Until then the 2 dozen high schools located in a 10 mile radious will continue to suffer. Nice planning in the 70's guys. High school in everybodies back yard.But a bad field is a bad field No one has advantage. Players would rather play on road.

Greenville County school athletic facilities have been notorious for being dumps. This goes back to the 1980s. Huge district. Lots of money. Great businesses in the area. But zero pride or direction for their infrastructure. Very poor athletic administrations compared to the caliber of players they have in all sports in that district.

I can't believe in 2015 the state of playing fields in that county. Greenville schools need to get lacrosse moved to the fall in S.C., or at least winter and to play at a local field/complex and not at the high schools where football and soccer share the space.

If all of these facilities are going to be shared by multiple sports then they need to rip up the tracks and expand the playing surfaces to at least 65 yards for soccer width and install field turf. Maybe do away with track and field altogether! Like the old adage says, "the only thing more boring than track ... is field".

I get it, I understand it. Maybe the Greenville Schools need to consolidate fields and split the cost to use them. Turf a field or two to split cost and maintenance. My sons safety should not be compromised because of splitting field use between football, lacrosse, soccer, etc.; Yes, my kid got sand kicked into his face while playing this past weekend. To say I have issue with this is an understatement. I'm not talking about a little bit of sand - it was a lot, a handful scooped up by players cleat. Please know this wasn't done maliciously, but as a by product of playing hard during the course of the game. He was standing up when this happened. It's not like he was on the ground when it happened. It is amazing how immaculate the baseball field looked the day of our soccer game. I know the baseball field it is not used by football, lacrosse, and soccer. I get it.

I applaud the coaches for doing what they can with what they have, but more needs to be done. You can't squeeze blood out of a turnip, but if your field is that bad and you can't secure a better field, then maybe you should not host the playoff game. Defer to the visiting team and use their fields. Again, another dumb idea, that would take away your home field advantage and use of local fan base. If you are not going to provide good fields and cant arrange for it, then that should be your penalty. My penalty should not be having to play on your subpar and dangerous field as a visiting team. Their should be a minimum expectation for field use, this field is only acceptable to JL Mann athletics. I would really like to hear from someone who thinks the fields are adequate - please justify. Would love to see it.

In the future, secure better playing fields - Good lord, at least the playoffs. You have a partner school right next door with fields 5x times better. Beg and plead on hands and knees if you need to. Make a deal. Crazy Crazy Crazy field.

I also disagree about teams being penalized equally in terms of game situations. If you get to practice on a field that is habitually a bad conditioned field, don't you think, as players, you come to realize where the best places to kick a ball to or keep it away from are located? If you answer that truthfully, you can only come to the conclusion of an emphatic YES. Guest teams don't have that luxury. They are smacked in the face by a field in such bad shape, that there is no amount of time in the hour preceding the game (warm up period) to figure out what is good and what is bad for ball placement.

Pretty bad to see a ball kicked and then stopped by orange think sand so deep, you could literally sink your whole foot into it, "just like a day spent at the beach".

I am not, let me repeat, I am not slamming the coach of the team. I want to bring awareness to a very bad situation. If someone from the SCHSL would have seen that field, they would agree with everything I am saying. Do you feel like this field would be an acceptable site host for the State Championship games to be played this weekend?

That field is an utter disgrace to even be called a field. The coach cant control people who control the money. I applaud their efforts for making the best of a bad situation and sacrificing their time. That is not my intent, but if the school administration and athletic department are not going to provide adequate facilities for certain sports, then don't offer the sport. Seems like a crazy idea and an unacceptable solution, but either step up and do what's right or don't do it at all. There is no absolutely no way any "Reputable Athletic Director" would find this field acceptable to play on, I bet SCHSL wouldn't either if they could see it first hand. I beg anyone to go take a look at that field and see for yourself.

Yea, I have a vested interest in this because my kid got sand kicked in face! First time ever on a soccer field from a standing position. Can you say corneal abrasion!!!!!!!!!