Turf Field
This field has seen more tears, celebrations, happiness, and trials overcome than you could ever imagine.
Throughout the day, a high school turf field is used in numerous ways. It is an ultimate Frisbee field for P.E., then a football field with cheerleaders lined up on the sidelines chanting and tumbling, hoping their team comes out with a win. In the winter it becomes a soccer field with the end zone turning into the goalie box, two big soccer goals pushed onto the endline. Every night it turns into a band stage, where performers practice marching and musical numbers. In June, it turns into a graduation ceremony, filled with hundreds of chairs and a huge stage, ready to send the graduating seniors onto their next journey. Where firsts and lasts happen, both exciting wins happen and final goodbyes are said. This field has seen more tears, celebrations, happiness, and trials overcome than you could ever imagine.
Get Buttercuppp’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
The field itself doesn’t change. Goals or chairs can be added on top, but the structure is not changed. In a book by Herb Childress we are brought into a classroom, the focus on the desks. He takes us into the life of a desk; the purpose, meaning, and usage. The formation of desks can vary from classroom to classroom throughout the day, and even change in the same period. They can be in rows, grouped together, or even erratically spread out throughout the room. Back a hundred years ago, the desks used to be bolted down to the floor, unable to move. This relates to a turf field as it used to only have one purpose: a football field. Overtime, we have introduced new meaning for the field, adding new sports like flag football and field hockey, to new performing arts that take usage of the field.
Both were created to be customized by the user, for maximum usage with endless possibilities.
While reading this essay from Childress, it says, “the occupants of the school desks had a different set of criteria for successful seating than did the owners or managers of those desks. They wanted flexibility in orientation and posture.” Just like the students that occupy the desks, players on sports teams may have different views of the turf field. He says that they wanted flexibility, relating to the multiple ways you can use the turf field. Both were created to be customized by the user, for maximum usage with endless possibilities.
My favorite thing to do is come to my high school’s turf field on the weekend. There is usually no one else there, and I am able to use the turf field for short sprints, soccer drills, and practice shooting on the goal. It is a huge, wide open space that allows me to practice whatever I need to improve on my sport. This field serves many different purposes, just like desks in a classroom.
