lining a field

[brick15]

We are not allowed to paint our field because it is new. I was wondering if anyone has any idea's on how to line a deso-turf field I think its called. It's the turf that has long blades like grass and has those rubber pelets in it. I heard velcro works but I havent been able to find velcro in bulk sales. If anyone can help me out let me know.

[Timbalaned]

Have you asked about using like chalk like they do for baseball lines or even flour or something that will come out eventually?

[reLAX10]

I know Illinois St. Uses piles of the black rubber balls, they put those in a chalk dispenser and line it using those.

[brick15]

black rubber balls?? how does that work. I would think that wouldnt show up well. especially because the field has the black pelets as the base for it.

[Kyle Berggren]

We had this same problem, and chalk or flour won't work. The lime stains the turf. Dan Wishengrad (sp) from the University of Washington got us in contact with Aervoe Industries. They have water based marking paints that can be pressure washed off with no problems. We haven't used them yet, but that is all they are allowed to use in their new facility. I'll try to double check exactly what type we're using and get back to you soon, assuming Dan doesn't chime in first, it may be a few days.

[wakelacrosse]

Velcro does not work especially on a field that is non sticky like the long turf such as field turf. Chalk we were told would seep into the pad and disrupt drainage on our field which is similar to a high speed carpet. We finally were able to get paint by using a special dilution of a latex paint and water, it was mixed in a 50/50 mixture and comes off after rubbing it or a high amount of water put on it. Might want to suggest that to your facilities people.

[isulax26]

at illinois state we do use the black pellets to line hte field and it works great...we originally used duct tape which also worked but got yelled at for it....big suprise.....we still use duct tape for hte creases just because the pellets will start to wear away as people run across them and the ball hits them....but we have never had a problem with losing too much of hte line...our school just has a huge bag of it in storage so we just draw from taht our matenance people are hte ones we had to contact to get ahold of it....hope it helps

[Nick B]

if you havent figured it out yet, u should ask someone from michigan cause they have a field similar to the one you described.

[John Paul]

We are fortunate that they paint our lines on the field for us. It's a FieldTurf surface permanently lined for football, and our lines are repainted in a contrasting color before every home weekend. We're actually the only team, club or varsity, that gets lines on that field other than football since it's their practice field. We are very lucky that we pulled that one off.

Our women's team uses tape, which does seem to stick well on the long turf. It's an indoor field, though. I don't think tape would work on a wet surface if it was outdoors and the weather wasn't cooperating.

On a side note, no paint will stick for long on a fieldturf type of surface. Our lines wear off within days, just from usage. The long blades of turf on this type of field are always bending, which causes the paint to flake off pretty quickly.

[Dan Wishengrad]

At Washington we have had FieldTurf since 2001, when Paul Allen bought it for the school when the Seahawks rented Husky Stadium to play for two seasons before Qwest Field was built. We are blessed to have four such FieldTurf fields on campus now, and they are very particular in what you put on the surface. Absolutely no to chalk, tape, pellets or traditional marking paint.

As Kyle noted above, the only application they will allow to be used is Aervoe Liquid Marking Chalk, which leaves no permanent traces and washes out when rained on and played on. Otherwise it's a nice visible white line when applied the day of a game, and with our rain you can still see "ghosts" of the crease all season long. They paint each Friday before we play our home games on Saturday. The goal lines are sewn in, and we use existing sewed-in lines for end lines, sidelines, midfield and spectator limit lines. They paint with the Aervoe Liquid chalk the creases, sides of boxs, wing areas and penalty box/sidelines and the midfield "X". It works out great, and I am given a spray can for touch-ups if needed at half-time.

[Sonny]

Remember, there is no midfield X this year. There is supposed to be a midfield box, 4" wide.

[Dan Wishengrad]

We keep getting different opinions on that one Sonny -- first we were told no more X, than we were told yes, it is still needed....

[Sonny]

We keep getting different opinions on that one Sonny -- first we were told no more X, than we were told yes, it is still needed....

Check page 12 of this year's rulebook. This diagram shows the box on the Field of Play diagram. It appears to be something that both coaches can agree to waive, but it is in the rulebook for this year.

A 4" square box should be placed at the middle of the center line in a contrasting color

Link:
http://www.ncaa.org/library/rules/2005/ ... _rules.pdf

[Dan Wishengrad]

Interesting.

Our home field is a multi-purpose use facility with lines for a full soccer field running in the same direction as our lacrosse field, and then there are three "short field" soccer fields that run perpendicular to the main field. This is just like a gym that has a full basketball court cut by two short courts running perpendicular to the full court's halfcourts.

As a result, we have intersecting permanent (sewn-in) lines at the midfield of the lacrosse field, in contrasting colors. The midfeld line is a 4" in yellow. It is intersected by a 4 " white line that cuts right down the middle of our lacrosse field (if you have watched the US Lacrosse Team Defense instructional video, what we have is exactly what Coach Tierney draws down the middle with his "telistrator" when diagramming the Princeton Defense). The intersection of these two lines is a 4" square in the dead center of our field.

I would assume that we could really get a waiver for both the "X" (if it WAS still needed) and this new 4" box because the center of our field is already marked exactly by a 4" box of contrasting colors -- white and yellow 4" lines intersecting.

Would Sonny or another Ref offer an opinion on this interpretation?

[Sonny]

I can't offer an official interpretation, but the 2005 field diagram is in the 2005 NCAA rule book. Linked above in PDF format.