SOURCE: The Metropolitan Oval
The Metropolitan Oval, New York’s only club owned field, will be resurfaced this summer with Northeast’s first professional grade, non-infill field. Met Oval has partnered with InBounds to install the Pure Play brand of sports turf at their Youth Center of Excellence in Queens. Pure Play is the first truly non-infill synthetic turf playing surface currently being installed in the United States and the new playing surface at Met Oval will be the first of its kind in the Northeast and third in the USA.
Pure Play was developed to provide athletes with a durable, synthetic playing surface that most closely mimics the feel and playability of natural grass fields without their inherent limitations such as consistent playability.
Pure Play’s new, innovative, patent pending technology achieves the high-performance standard specified by FIFA including: shock absorption, vertical deformation, rotational resistance, ball roll and ball bounce without the need for any infill additives.
Pure Play is safe and is not abrasive using an innovative type of curly yarn with a shock pad as a base. Infill turf has raised health concerns in recent years due to harmful substances transferred by crumb rubber onto players or into the environment.
"This is the only turf on the market that I feel comfortable working with because it provides a great alternative to crumb rubber infill. I've been working with Pure Play to help evaluate the health/safety and playability/performance qualities of this new non-infill turf. It's great for keepers, you can get your foot under the ball to chip, bounce and roll the ball - just like real grass. Pure Play is a superior product that calms the mind knowing it’s free from carcinogens."
Ethan Zohn - Winner of the reality show Survivor, former professional goalkeeper, Major League Soccer Analyst, two-time cancer survivor.
The new field installation begins on July 3rd and will be completed in time for preseason in mid-August. In addition to the new field surface, Met Oval will be outfitted with new professional grade soccer goals, new player dugout seating, new spectator seating, a SAQ and warm up area as well as new retaining walls.
“One of the cornerstones of developing elite youth talent is the environment in which they train. With a commitment to professional grade facilities, staff and playing surfaces, our Youth Center of Excellence will continue to create the professional and collegiate players of tomorrow. It is our belief that such an investment in the Met Oval facility is imperative to maintain our role as a national leader in talent development” says Jeffrey Saunders, Sporting Director at Metropolitan Oval.
Once again Met Oval is at the forefront of cutting edge technology that will improve the overall quality of play at our facility and will also directly contribute to the development of the Met Oval players.
About the Met Oval
The Metropolitan Oval is a USSF Development Academy dedicated to developing New York's elite level soccer talent at our Youth Center of Excellence while offering youth of all backgrounds the opportunity to play soccer in a committed environment. Our 'Professional Pathway' places players in youth national team programs, MLS and Int'l academies and collegiate programs. In the past three years, Met Oval has placed more youth players in MLS and Int'l academies (over 30) then any other club in the region with 6 players moving to NYCFC alone over the last 6 months ranging in age from U12- U17.
