TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Sabino High School is the first in the Tucson Unified School District to unveil a new state-of-the-art, eco-friendly turf field, the first of many coming to TUSD high schools.
The project comes with a $2.3 million price tag, funded through the district’s $480 million bond.
“I know a lot of people are getting turf but I need the turf that everybody in Arizona's going to talk about,” said Sabino High School Principal Kevin Amidan.
And talk they will. The field highlights school pride with purple turf woven into the design, along with a silhouette of the Catalina Mountains past the west end zone. The upgrades also include a new video board and scoreboard.
“As a student athlete alum yourself, you know we're very proud of purple,” Amidan said.
Instead of using recycled tire material under the turf, the new field uses organic infill.
“On top of the sand, they put what they call a core-max.. That's ground-up coconut fibers and ground-up olive pits,” Amidan explained. “The nice thing about that is, if you've heard about turf fields in the past, those temperatures can get to be 160 degrees. Our field actually cools down to the same temperature as regular grass.”
Dr. Charlotte Carter, TUSD’s bond program manager, said the bond is already making a significant difference across the district.
“It's made such a significant impact to the whole district already. Whether it's H-VAC, artificial turf, security and safety, it's really just amazing on what this bond is going to do. And we're just in our first year and a half,” Carter said.
Amidan said Sabino’s new field sets the standard for what’s to come.
“Everybody's just really excited. We're excited to see what these are going to look like district-wide. Our TUSD kids deserve the best. Our bond committee went out and approved the best,” he said.
The district says Pueblo High School will debut its new turf field next Friday.
