Down the Drain

Virginia Tech freshman quarterback sensation Tyrod Taylor dodged pursuing defenders with ease as he scampered to the right sideline and finds a perfectly-positioned Eddie Royal for a touchdown pass. It was raining hard and had been all day, yet the turf had stayed solid. Unfortunately for the Virginia Tech Football team, the opposing quarterback, Matt Ryan, was able to perform a similar feat in the waning seconds to win the game for the Boston College Eagles. The real impressive statistic, however, was not the number of yards gained or passes thrown, but the amount of rain that had fallen during the contest.

Three inches of rain fell to the ground during that 2007 game. On a natural clay/soil field with a crown, this downpour would have meant a mud bowl; however, the heavy rain did not damage the surface of Worsham field. The turf stayed stable as players ran back and forth in hopes of football greatness. The reason: a Georgia-based landscape and turf company known as GreenTech provided Virginia Tech with its state-of-the-art Integrated Turf Management (ITM) system. GreenTech ITM uses an elaborate tray system that allows for up to 16 inches of drainage per hour. The trays are also removable for multi-use (e.g., concerts, trade shows) venues and allow for the use of temperature sensors and heating systems to help monitor the soil.

GreenTech ITM was used at the Bird’s Nest during the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics because of its interchangeable and removable nature. Being chosen for Olympic use is no small accolade, but does GreenTech’s ITM system do everything it is supposed to?

After a 2001 regular season football game against Georgia Tech was rained out, Virginia Tech decided to look into a new drainage system.

“It was a muddy mess and we lost a good bit of revenue because we had to cancel that game,” says Jason Bowers, the sports turf and athletic grounds manager for Virginia Tech.

With only six or so home games every year, Virginia Tech could not chance another cancellation. The stadium was undergoing an expansion the following year, so the Virginia Tech Athletic Department decided to change the field over to GreenTech’s ITM system. GreenTech’s tray system allows for athletic field turf to be cultivated off-site because each tray contains the soil and breathability needed for grass to grow. At 4-by-4 feet, each tray is picked up by fork-lift when movement is necessary. The old field was ripped out and essentially an asphalt slab was installed in its place. This asphalt top is where the 4,400 trays are placed side-by-side to create the playing surface.

“We hauled them down here section by section from the airport on flatbed trucks,” Bowers says.

Each tray is composed of five inches of gravel in the base followed by eight inches of sand, and then the sand is covered by soil and a layer of Patriot bermudagrass sod sourced from Oklahoma State University. This composition combined with the trays’ perforated drainage points are the main benefits of the GreenTech ITM system.

“They said it would take some astronomical amount of rain, something like 26 inches per hour, but over the years with top-dressing and organic buildup, realistically it probably drains four inches of rain per hour, which is still a lot of water,” Bowers says.

The drainage characteristics of the ITM system were put to the test in 2003 when Virginia Tech hosted Texas A&M during a storm spawned by Hurricane Isabel. The rain and wind drenched fans in what became known as “Isabowl,” but the field remained tight and the teams rushed for nearly 400 yards combined.

While the ITM system might not be capable of draining two feet of water per hour, Jason Bowers is happy with the drainage profile. The versatility of the tray system, however, is virtually non-existent. Recently, Worsham Field was the host of a large music concert that involved a 100-ton crane to help build the stage. This would have been a great opportunity to use the asphalt top and show off the versatility of the system, but it would have required much of the field to be “dug up,” so Bowers contacted GreenTech and was assured that the plastic trays could hold the weight of the crane and the stage.

They did.

“It was sold to us as, yes, we can take the trays out, but this is pretty much a permanent install, and I don’t think we’ll ever pop a tray out unless a water main explodes,” Bowers says.

The threat of a line break in the irrigation system that weaves through the trays is another concern of Bowers. If there is a line break, water will just run across the asphalt base and it will be very difficult to determine where the line break is.

Also running through the maze of trays is the heating lines that come out to 22 different locations on the playing field. This heating system uses a gas furnace, and the heat is pumped through the pipes with a turbine so that the field stays at a healthy temperature during the winter months. Unfortunately, the furnace needs a certain amount of air flowing to keep it lit. Bowers says that the fan must operate at 40 percent, which leads to quick and steady flow of heat rather than the desired slow release of heat.

Virginia Tech used the system one time and found that they had 22 dead patches on the surface of the field because the heat was coming out too fast and drying up the individual spots.

“I use turf blankets now, just huge blankets that cover the field and keep the cold air and frost off of the field,” Bowers says.

There are temperature sensors embedded within the tray system, but the readouts are wildly inaccurate. Bowers and his crew are not prepared to locate and dig out sensors when the soil thermometers give them the information they need.

The ITM system may not be as beneficial for teams that play in Arizona or Colorado, but if a team plays in areas like the Gulf coast or the Northwest, they may want to check GreenTech out. This GreenTech system is not without flaws, but it has proved valuable to Virginia Tech and Jason Bowers on more than one occasion.

“I would say it has performed great. There are a few minor drawbacks, but those are on my end,” Bowers says.

It also proved valuable to Boston College when their quarterback needed solid footing to make a game winning throw.

James Elsea is a freelance writer.