Cleats vs Turfs

[Mike75]

My HS daughter plays field hockey and lax. Both teams play on field turf (not the water astro turf the college FH teams play on). The FH coach will not let the players wear cleats, only turf shoes. Says its for safety reasons (knee injuries from cleats catching in the turf). While the lax team pretty much only wears cleats on the turf. Turf shoes are few and far between, although some girls file down their cleats to make them less grabby. Does anyone else see this (I'm in CT)? From my observation, college lax seems to be more cleats than turf shoes, but there are definitely more turf shoes at that level than at HS.

[Kleizaster]

My HS daughter plays field hockey and lax. Both teams play on field turf (not the water astro turf the college FH teams play on). The FH coach will not let the players wear cleats, only turf shoes. Says its for safety reasons (knee injuries from cleats catching in the turf). While the lax team pretty much only wears cleats on the turf. Turf shoes are few and far between, although some girls file down their cleats to make them less grabby. Does anyone else see this (I'm in CT)? From my observation, college lax seems to be more cleats than turf shoes, but there are definitely more turf shoes at that level than at HS.

I think for FH, turf shoes are pretty much standard across the board now, both in HS and College, normal turf or astroturf. I think it's just mainly due to the nature of the sport, where footwork and quick cuts and movements occur more frequent compared to lacrosse. From what i've seen from FH games i have attended, i rarely saw cleats. So the FH coach may have been correct.

As for Lax players, they play mainly on grass and are used to wearing their cleats. Changing to turf shoes to play on turf is too big of a change for most and may affect their play because they're simply not used to it. Most players just stick to cleats for all surfaces in both HS and College.

[cltlax]

My HS daughter plays field hockey and lax. Both teams play on field turf (not the water astro turf the college FH teams play on). The FH coach will not let the players wear cleats, only turf shoes. Says its for safety reasons (knee injuries from cleats catching in the turf). While the lax team pretty much only wears cleats on the turf. Turf shoes are few and far between, although some girls file down their cleats to make them less grabby. Does anyone else see this (I'm in CT)? From my observation, college lax seems to be more cleats than turf shoes, but there are definitely more turf shoes at that level than at HS.

As for Lax players, they play mainly on grass and are used to wearing their cleats. Changing to turf shoes to play on turf is too big of a change for most and may affect their play because they're simply not used to it. Most players just stick to cleats for all surfaces in both HS and College.

As a counterpoint, my D24 wears soccer cleats when playing on grass and turf shoes when on field turf. Doesn't seem to be a big adjustment for her. She will wear cleats on field turf if it's wet, however.

[Lurker]

My daughter tore her ACL her freshman college season wearing cleats on matted down/old field turf. She was dodging from the top, planted her right foot and went went to cut left and her right knee just gave out. Watching the film it looked like her cleats caught on the turf.

I bought her turf shoes and mandated that she wear them. She played the remainder of her career without a single leg injury.

Not sure if the shoes had anything to do with it, but to me old matted down field turf it too "grabby" for cleats. And she never had a problem slipping when wearing turf shoes even when playing in snow or rain.

[Carroll81]

My daughter tore her ACL her freshman college season wearing cleats on matted down/old field turf. She was dodging from the top, planted her right foot and went went to cut left and her right knee just gave out. Watching the film it looked like her cleats caught on the turf.

I bought her turf shoes and mandated that she wear them. She played the remainder of her career without a single leg injury.

Not sure if the shoes had anything to do with it, but to me old matted down field turf it too "grabby" for cleats. And she never had a problem slipping when wearing turf shoes even when playing in snow or rain.

THIS!!!

If you wear cleats on turf fields you are increasing the odds of ACL injury dramatically.