By Kyle Coppola
Wildwood Middle High Show Off New Artificial Turf Football Field
Natural grass is officially a thing of the past for high school football in Sumter County.
Wildwood Middle High School became the third and final school in the county to transition to an artificial playing surface, joining South Sumter and The Villages, which made the switch in recent years.
The installation of the new turf this summer marks a major shift for Wildwood, which had remained the last school in the county still competing on natural grass.
(The brand new artificial turf field installed at Wildwood Middle High School came out great. Photo Credit – Dylan LaRusso.)
“I am very excited because now the kids can use the field all the time. That is the big benefit of artificial turf,” Wildwood Athletic Director Brian Haugabrook said recently. “This will also decrease the hours used to prepare the field for athletic events. It takes hours to paint lines and get the field ready.”
The benefits, according to school officials and coaches, go far beyond football.
“I’m not even the football coach and I can tell you that this is going to have a wide range of benefits for all our athletes at the school,” says Adiener Feliciano, head boys basketball coach at Wildwood. “We’ll be utilizing that field for conditioning and other things, and so many other kids can now. Previously we had to use the field sparingly because of the natural surface, but now we can use it 24/7.”
(Better look at the new center field logo installed that spans over 25 yards. It came out great. Photo Credit – Dylan LaRusso.)
The newly installed field was done incredibly well. It features the school’s classic Wildwood Middle High logo at midfield. For the first time in school history, the end zones are painted blue with the words “Wildwood” and “Wildcats.” The sidelines include a matching blue area for team benches and the inscription “Rocker Field.”
This is not just about football. This is something that every student at the school can benefit from. We constantly see student-athletes using the field at South Sumter and The Villages High School and they are able to train year round on the surfaces without the worry of the surface getting worn.
Artificial turf uses a shock absorbing material under the surface providing a bit of a sponge like feel, almost the same as a nice natural grass surface or a putting green on golf courses. That’s about what I can describe it as feeling like. The field has a rubber infill and then green plastic fibers to make it appear like natural grass.
The Ribbon Cutting for the New Rocker Family Field at Wildwood Middle High School is scheduled for August 29 at 6:00 PM
What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
