Bri (left), Crew Cat & Siobhan
What’s going on this week?
Well for starters welcome to all the new students in the various online certification courses OSU offers!
Next, let’s talk about research and the 2016 International Champions Cup at OSU Stadium!
Research Trials
The research trial on soccer ball performance has officially begun out at Mapfre Stadium (home of the Columbus Crew MLS team).
We were able to get a couple of new pieces of equipment for the trials including a ball roll tester (pictured left) and a FIFA Prism! We are also looking at a ball cannon and radar gun!
We are going to advance the project even further this week by performing an irrigation audit out at Mapfre Stadium.
What’s happening at OSU stadium?
In prep for the Real Madrid vs Paris Saint Germain game coming up Wednesday, July 27th, sod is being installed. How exactly does this process work? The new sod field will be placed on top of the existing artificial turf with 2 layers of GeoTextile separating the turf. This prevents the possible issue of soil falling through onto the artificial turf. Some big challenges the team will be facing are laying the refrigerated sod down quickly due to the increasingly hot weather. The drying out of the sod is a very real possibility during the hot weekend even once it’s down.
Hot Weather?
In the next 10 days it’s going to be real hot out. Our cool season grasses are not native to the US and do not handle well in extreme temperatures. Learn more here
For a PDF version of this weekly update, please click below.
About the author: Bri is a 4th year Sports Industry Major currently undertaking a turfgrass science internship.