By Joshua Smith
Pride Field, home to the football, lacrosse and soccer teams here at Greensboro College, has endured many changes throughout its history. Pride Field, which is located on the south side and backside of Greensboro College’s campus, was originally a softball venue before being changed for soccer and lacrosse in 1989. With Pride Field being situated right in the heart of the historic College Hill neighborhood, it offers a stunning view of the Greensboro sky play when daylight is thin. line and has been a host to numerous Greensboro College and Greensboro community events. Pride Field would then serve as a natural grass playing field for the next 26 years before it would receive a $1.1 million dollar renovation in 2015, including the installation of a state-of-the-art AstroTurf artificial playing surface. Before the start of the 2021 spring season, a new scoreboard and field lights were added to Pride Field. The LED field lights added on the exterior of the stadium allow the Pride sports programs to practice.
On April 8, the renovation was announced, through an Instagram promo Give4GC, from Greensboro College Athletic Director Jerry Fisk.
“This summer, Pride Field will have a brand new turf along with bleacher seats as well as a press box coming soon after,” Fisk stated. “I am proud of what we are doing at Greensboro College Athletics, and I am thankful for the support of those around us.”
Fisk, when interviewed, said that the need to change the turf initially started in 2024, when coaches across the athletic programs expressed their concerns about the former turf’s ability to sustain the health and safety of their student athletes. The decision to change the turf was essentially unanimous, with nobody opposed to it being changed.
The only opposition in the way of this project was the financial concerns of paying for the turf to be renovated. Dr. Czarda, president of Greensboro College and the President’s Cabinet, however, got on board with the project and with the support of our finance officers at Greensboro College, everything for this renovation of the turf would be a go. The project was financed partly through our school working with new vendors who were willing to finance some of the turf renovation and in large part to Dr. Czarda, who led the charge, as the athletic department was not going to be able to cover the costs of renovating the turf.
With this new renovation, Pride Field will keep using AstroTurf on its playing surface. Instead of bringing back the former natural grass that the field used to have, Fisk says it was a better decision overall to keep the AstroTurf due to the “amount of use that the turf gets.”
Fisk continued, “… that field with football, soccer, lacrosse, plus baseball and softball when their fields are in bad shape because of the weather. They are all out there. So, we need an all purpose turf field so that we can use it year-round without worrying about field conditions and the weather.”
“Probably smarter (referring to keeping the AstroTurf over switching to natural grass), if all teams used one pitch it will be damaged pretty fast,” said Armin Hasse, a sophomore center back/defender on the men’s soccer team.
Armin’s fellow teammate, Sergio Garcia-Barros, a senior midfielder, has an opposing opinion.
“I would like to play in natural grass as it is much better and it helps with the weather by making it less hot for teams and also less turf in people shoes,” said Garcia Barros.
This newly-renovated turf also showcases a brand-new Greensboro-inspired design as well.
“We wanted something that had a lot of life,” claimed Fisk about the inspiration and work behind the new design of the turf on Pride Field. “You know, I think the grey is a good addition. It makes things pop. It makes it look good. It was a lot of work to get all of those right lines on for all those different sports, because men’s and women’s lacrosse and football have different lines, and then the two soccers have the same lines. But there are five sets of lines on the field. And we wanted to make sure that we had all of those and we were not putting pieces of the design in spaces that have lines. That was important to us.”
Many of the student athletes that I interviewed across campus prefer the design of the new AstroTurf field compared to the design of the old AstroTurf field.
“The new one, as the logo is updated in the middle of the field and the lines, made the field look much better from far away and close,” said Garcia-Barros.
Hasse was the only student athlete I interviewed who could not tell if he had a preference for the design of either turf field, or if there was much of a difference that he saw between the designs of the two turfs.
Fisk added that there will definitely be another renovation of the turf in the future. He talked about how, with the way that turf works, with so much wear and tear on it by our student athletes, the turf fields must be replaced every 10 to 12 years. With the last turf being renovated at almost 12 years old, it is expected for the newly renovated turf to be replaced between 2036 and 2038. However, Fisk provided a bright side to this reality.
“The nice thing about turf is you are not weeding it, you are not fertilizing, you do not have to cut it every week, you do not have to worry about conditions, if it has been a lot of rain or no rain,” he said. “So, it isolates you from some of those things, but it does still have to be replaced every 10 or 12 years.”
Fisk feels that it was more important to get the renovation of the Pride Field turf done first, before the installation of the press box and bleacher seats.
“The field was a concern for health and safety of student-athletes,” he reasoned. “I love the press box because it will give us opportunities to do things that we do not currently have with our set up.
“I would like more bleachers because as you saw on Saturday, we split at the seams when we have a huge crowd like that, but those things do not compromise the health and safety of our student-athletes. So, I think the field needed to be the first piece and now that that is done, hopefully we can move forward with these other pieces.”
The majority of the student athletes interviewed agree that the who has played on the new turf, I can feel how much easier it is to move on the current turf compared to the old turf last year. renovation of the Pride Field turf was the most important project that needed to be completed, with specifically junior tight end Matt Kidd believing that the turf renovation should come as the first priority. Fellow freshman teammate and offensive lineman David Martin believes that all three of the projects have equally important roles in improving the quality of Pride Field.
Garcia-Barrios offers a small counterargument, as he thinks “it was a good idea as a lot of sports use the field to play and with new turf and new field it feels much better, although more bleacher seats would have been better for more people to come and support the school.”
There is a lot of excitement surrounding this new turf renovation, especially from the alumni and the fanbase. People see the turf and say that it looks great, and that they are so happy that Fisk was able to get this turf renovation done. They are glad to have this, as feedback and response to the turf renovation has been overwhelmingly positive. Even when some of the alumni step out on the field, they just talk about how it feels different and how good the turf really is.
Fisk believes that the biggest benefit the new Pride Field turf is going to have in comparison with the old turf is the positive impact it will have on the health and safety of the student athletes. Personally, as a student-athlete who has played on the new turf, I can feel how much easier it is to move on the current turf compared to the old turf last year.
Fisk also believes that the new turf is going to help with recruiting, as he thinks that when people stepped onto the turf last year, it felt hard on their feet. But seeing a new field that feels great when you walk on it is helpful. The new turf will allow for intramurals and clubs to do some of their events out there on Pride Field. It also helps with recruiting on campus, even if a person is a non-athlete, or possibly a non-outdoor athlete touring the campus. It would be fun to see the new turf facility on Pride Field and how it makes the campus look fresh.
Fisk believes that the renovated turf will be a great asset for them, hopefully for the next 10 years.
All the students I interviewed except one felt that the new turf provided them with more benefits than the old turf.
“It is a good turf, but for soccer it sometimes feels slow. The ball is not traveling as fast,” Hasse said.
Pride Field is moving forward into the future, turning its turf into a new era, with bigger things on the horizon, so you want to make sure you stay tuned for what is next, or you might be blown away.
