Costa Rica Sports – This field will be the first of its kind in Latin America, will Saprissa be jealous?
On Thursday Alajuelense received the Italian synthetic material for the base for the hybrid grass that will be planted at the Alejandro Morera Soto Stadium.
La Liga will be the first American team that will feature a hybrid court.
According to Enio Cubillo, of the Infrastructure Committee of the League, the 17 rolls of synthetic material that arrived in the country on Thursday were unloaded at the Center for Sports Development in Turrúcares. The material will be used for the base to begin the installation work and plant the grass.
The material is a mixture: 90% natural and 10% synthetic. The grass seed is planted on top of the synthetic, which is less dense than normal, once the grass has roots it crosses and intertwines with the artificial grass producing this hybrid material. Around 10% of the synthetic grass goes under the real grass to mix the roots form one single layer. With this system in place the material is strengthen and the number of hours the court can be used is five to seven times more.
The following step is to extend the synthetic material, set sand and plant the grass so it begins to grow.
As stated in the original plan, the League is expected to remove the current synthetic court to install the new hybrid material in January. If the new year plan does not work the next tentative day will be set for June, depending on the amount of rain a date can be determined, too much rain means the installation can’t be done and could delay the project.
After seeing the whole process in Madrid, from cutting the rolls of material and transferring them to the Santiago Bernabéu stadium to place the hybrid grass, Cubillo says the league is ready to begin the process.
La Liga players are the first to applaud the initiative for the hybrid court. Michael Umana said that having a good court is important and an advantage because it is motivating for the players. He added that Alajuelense deserves to have a good field and it will be one of the best in Central America.
The Honduran player, Jorge Claros added that the new court will give the audience a show and players will suffer less.
Last month, Britain’s Paul Burgees and some colleagues visited the premises of La Liga and the Morera Soto Stadium to share their advise on the project to install the hybrid court. Burgees is an agronomist and is the head of Santiago Benabéu field and is responsible for maintaining entertainment fields.
The life of a hybrid field is between eight and ten years, but depending on the maintenance it can be up to 15 years.
By Brenda Sotelo
