The Impact of Synthetic Turf on Goucher College Men’s and Women’s Lacrosse Teams
Loading...
Links to Files
Permanent Link
Collections
Author/Creator
Author/Creator ORCID
Date
2015-05
Type of Work
Department
Program
Citation of Original Publication
Rights
Collection may be protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. To obtain information or permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the Goucher Special Collections & Archives at 410-337-6347 or email archives@goucher.edu.
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of synthetic turf on the men’s and women’s
lacrosse teams at Goucher College. The measurement tool for the study was overall team records
five years prior to and five years following the installation of synthetic turf. The statistics that
were analyzed through a survey were gender, number of years the student athlete played lacrosse,
primary position, and school status level. Each athlete was asked about incidents of dehydration,
heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. The survey asked each athlete about any injuries and the effects
on loss of practice and game time, or a season ending injury in the areas of upper body, lower
body, and concussions. The areas of performance examined were agility, endurance, skill level,
and anticipation of opponent and ball movement. This study was quasi-experimental in that it
included student perceptions and team records. The men’s team showed no significant impact on
the number of wins and losses with the installation of synthetic turf. The women’s team had a
significant negative impact on the number of wins and losses after synthetic turf was installed.
Studies related to this topic should continue as there has been little longitudinal research
examining the impact of synthetic turf on lacrosse players.