THE RESEARCH PLAYBOOK
Figure 2 . Top three challenges faced by administrators and managers in managing synthetic turf fields ( N = 21 ). Other challenges mainly revolve around safety issues .
15 % as the second biggest challenge and 24 % as the third challenge . The other challenges mainly revolved around safety issues , and were identified by 14 % of participants as the top challenge , 35 % as the second biggest challenge and 12 % as the third biggest challenge . Lack of administrative support was mentioned by 25 % as the second biggest challenge . Additionally , construction problems were noteworthy , ranked as the biggest challenge by 24 %, and the third challenge by 12 %. Communication with users was identified by 10 % as the biggest challenge and 10 % as the second-biggest challenge . Weather / climate was ranked lower compared to all other challenges .
Figure 3 shows participants ’ opinions on potential solutions to overcome the biggest challenges . For participants managing the natural turfgrass fields , approximately 55 % believed that having more money for resources and implementing field reconstruction could help address the biggest challenge in managing natural turfgrass fields . Moreover , allocating longer recovery time or having better scheduling was indicated by 42 % of participants as a potential solution . Fewer participants considered the remaining options , such as receiving more support ( 25 %), adopting synthetic turf ( 18 %), providing more information to justify needs ( 16 %) and other solutions — such as having more fields ( 3 %) — as potential solutions . Approximately 2 % of participants indicated that they perceived no viable solution to address the identified challenge .
The potential solutions differ among participants who manage the synthetic turf fields as shown in Figure 4 . The majority ( 43 %) identified having more money for resources as a potential solution , followed by having better scheduling ( 23 %) and having more support ( 23 %). Moreover , 19 % of participants considered having more information to justify needs and implanting field reconstruction could help address the challenges . Approximately 19 % expressed that there was no viable solution to address the identified challenge ( much higher than that for natural turfgrass ). Additionally , 9 % suggested other solutions , such as expanding and adding more synthetic turf to prevent rapid wear on existing fields .
Figure 3 . Administrators ’ and managers ’ opinions on potential solutions to overcome the biggest challenges with natural turfgrass fields ( N = 95 ). Other solutions include having more fields .
Figure 4 . Administrators ’ and managers ’ opinions on potential solutions to overcome the biggest challenges with synthetic turf fields ( N = 21 ). Other solutions include expanding and adding more synthetic turf to prevent rapid wear on existing fields . sportsfieldmanagementonline . com May 2024 | SportsField Management
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