INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

Match-day atmosphere during the 2026 FIFA World Cup final match.

By Ava Veith

As someone who has played soccer their entire life, being involved with the FIFA World Cup was truly a dream come true. It is difficult to put into words what this experience meant to me, and I can only imagine how my 10-year-old self would have reacted.

As a current Ph. D. student working under Dr. Chase Straw at Penn State, my research focuses on athlete – surface interactions and how variability within athletic fields influences athlete safety and performance. My role this summer provided a unique opportunity to combine my passion for both soccer and sports surface research while learning what goes into preparing a venue for the largest sporting event in the world.

It was inspiring to see how sports field managers across North America adapted to help deliver a tournament of this magnitude. Stadiums and training facilities throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico were all preparing for the same event while navigating tight schedules, intense media attention, and significant venue transformations. Behind every match were countless professionals working tirelessly to provide elite playing surfaces for the world’ s best athletes. Being a small part of that effort was both humbling and motivating.

Witnessing the transformation of NYNJ stadium and playing surface throughout the summer was particularly meaningful. I arrived just as sod installation was beginning in early May, and watching the pitch develop from its earliest stages through tournament play is something I will never forget.

My first few days were spent assisting with sod installation, where I got to see truckloads of sod arrive and watch the pitch come together piece by piece. Within only a couple days, what had previously been a construction site began to resemble a world-class soccer pitch.

Shortly after installation was completed, hybrid stitching began. Stitching involves injecting synthetic fibers vertically into the natural turfgrass rootzone, creating a reinforced playing surface designed to improve stability and durability while maintaining the characteristics of natural turfgrass. Seeing the pitch being stitched firsthand gave me a completely different appreciation for the technology, planning and precision involved in constructing elite playing surfaces.

Beyond the pitch itself, it was fascinating to watch the entire stadium evolve leading up to the first match. Irrigation was installed, grow light systems were prepared, tournament branding gradually appeared throughout the venue, and countless other details were put into place to ensure the stadium was ready to host matches. It quickly became clear that preparing a venue for an event of this magnitude involves far more than growing grass. Every detail matters, and every group involved plays an important role in creating a successful tournament environment.

Throughout the summer, my primary responsibility was collecting and organizing data related to playing surface conditions. I measured a variety of surface performance characteristics, including soil moisture, surface hardness, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index( NDVI), surface evenness, ball bounce height and ball roll, as well as several athlete-surface interaction metrics using the fLEX testing device. This testing could not have been possible without the help of Cate Robinson, Brooke Rienecker, Maritza Martinez, Dakota Hensel, and all the other people part of the pitch crew this summer. I appreciate their help more than they know.

For ball bounce height testing, I used a custom-built ball drop device that I constructed myself to provide consistent and repeatable measurements. As a graduate student, it was incredibly rewarding to see something I had built being used on a World Cup pitch to generate meaningful data throughout the tournament.

Measurements were collected repeatedly throughout the summer to document how the playing surface changed over time and responded to weather, maintenance practices, and traffic( from both matches and ceremonies). One of the most rewarding aspects of the summer was seeing how these measurements can complement the observations of sports field managers, and even help guide management decisions.

Collecting quantitative data provided another perspective for understanding how the surface was performing, and reinforced the value of combining research with practical field management. As graduate students, we often spend months or years collecting data before seeing how the information may ultimately be applied. This experience allowed me to observe firsthand how research and field management can work together, and it strengthened my belief that some of the most impactful research occurs when scientists and practitioners collaborate toward a common goal.

By the time the first match arrived, I had developed a deep appreciation for the pitch and everything that had gone into preparing it. I had spent countless hours walking the pitch, collecting measurements, and observing how different areas responded throughout the preparation period. Watching world-class athletes compete on a surface that I had worked on so intensely was incredible.

As a former Division I soccer player at Virginia Tech, I found myself reflecting on how fortunate I was to experience the World Cup from an entirely different perspective than I had ever imagined. Standing on the pitch before matches and knowing that a packed stadium— and billions of viewers around the world— would soon be focused on that pitch was a surreal feeling.

Looking back, this experience strengthened my passion for sports surface research and reaffirmed why I chose this career path. The opportunity to witness the development of a World Cup pitch from installation through tournament play was truly once in a lifetime. More importantly, it reminded me that behind every match are countless professionals whose dedication, expertise and attention to detail make those moments possible. I am especially grateful to Tyler Morris and the entire pitch crew for giving me the opportunity to be part of the team. It is a summer I will never forget.

Ava Veith is a Ph. D. Student at Penn State, where she studies sports field performance and athlete-surface interactions. She earned her M. S. from Virginia Tech, and was a Division I student-athlete on the Virginia Tech women’ s soccer team as an undergraduate, an experience that continues to shape her research perspective and passion for improving athlete safety and performance. Her long-term goal is to advance data-driven field management practices that optimize both playing surface and athlete performance, bridging the gap between turfgrass science, sports surface research, and sports medicine.