8 Reasons to use a 3G Pitch

Why I think you should train on a 3G pitch.

In this week’s blog, I wanted to talk about the reasons why the 3G pitch is better for training on than  a grass pitch.

Training on rubber grass may sound a little bit dodgy to the die-hard hard-core footballers, but below I will list why I think astroturf is just that much better.

Reason 1 – No waterlogged pitches

As I explained in The beauty of an All Weather Pitch, the rain causes massive disruption to grass pitches. This interrupts your training sessions and matches. You look forward to playing football, so do not let playing on grass pitches ruin that for you.

Reason 2 – No more long grass

You turn up at your venue ready to train. However,  you see the grass hasn’t been cut yet. This makes playing football pretty hard. Your tika-taka you’ve been working on won’t work here in the long grass. It’ll work on the astroturf pitch, however. Plastic grass doesn’t grow.

Reason 3 – No more muddy knees

Let’s face it, mud is annoying. It ruins your brand new CR7’s, your crisp kit is destroyed in seconds and did your legs really ask for an impromptu mud treatment whilst playing football? Astroturf avoids this icky stuff. You can finish with clean knees, clean kit and clean boots. Although you may want a shower. You are probably sweaty and probably smell.

Reason 4 – No More Baked Mud

Ah yes, the season is drawing to a close, winter is finished you can finally bathe in some glorious sunlight, at last. Playing football is becoming a little more enjoyable. But stop.  You turn up to your pitch and it is cracked and hard. The sun has roasted it and now you’re walking on essentially concrete with bits of plant growing out of it. We have nice tarmacked hardcourts a little cheaper if you like that sort of thing. Astroturf stays smooth and squidgy; it is like playing on a smooth cushion of loveliness and you don’t get a bruised bottom when you fall – probably.

Reason 5  – Crisp Lines

It’s simple, there has been a spot of rain, the pitch is playable – just, but the lines are faded. This isn’t fun for anyone. The ref can’t ref properly (it can be argued that they can’t anyway), the players can’t play properly and coaches can’t coach properly. The lines on the astroturf stay crisp and visible all the time. Mind you if it snows the white lines may be a bit hard to spot.

Reason 6 – Floodlights

A lot of grass pitches don’t come with floodlights. This means that come evening you can’t train on them. This a problem. Where can you do your midweek sessions now? Well, a sports hall is pretty good, but it isn’t the same is it? The astroturf pitch has floodlights so you can play on something much closer to the real thing, so if you’re any good win at the weekend.

Reason 7 – Fences

Your best striker hoofs it over the bar. Now someone has to run after it as it bounces happily into the next country. Can you really be bothered to take up the chase? Probably not.  The fences around the astroturf pitch stop this . Unless your striker hoofs it over the fence as well – in this case you have a slight problem upfront.

Reason 8  – Smooth  and flat

Trying to find a pitch that is flat and smooth is a near enough impossible task unless your home ground is at Wembley. The bumps and dips making play treacherous and trying to kick a ball – Well think Paul Robinson VS Croatia in 2008. The astroturf pitch is flat, no, bumps, no dips. This makes playing so much easier and a little better and no Paul Robinson-esque slip ups!

 

Well, there we have it. 8 reasons why I think astroturf is better than grass pitches.

The 3G  pitch at Harris Academy is floodlit and available weekends, evenings and holidays. If you’re interested in hiring out our All Weather Pitch or would like some more information click here or contact Tia on 07985 412232 or email tia.webster@schoolsplus.co.uk. Do not forget to follow us on twitter @SP_HAGreenwich