When conversations about athletic facility upgrades take place at North Atlanta, typically such talk centers on constructing a built-out football stadium on the existing Warrior Field. 

Unfortunately, it would see that building a stadium is still far out of sight, but that doesn’t mean the school has not been investing to improve the facilities. North Atlanta has recently seen the completion of the turfing of the practice field by the parking deck.  The field will not only be used by Warriors athletes, but also by Buckhead-based athletic leagues.  

There were a host of issues that came with the much-beleaguered grass field. Any light rain would cause the field to be unplayable, and closely resembling a mud bog. The mess that came with rains meant the cancelations of practices, all of which cut into training opportunities for Dub athletes. With the large amount of sports that North Atlanta offers, teams had to share the main field when the grass field was out of service. Head lacrosse coach Patrick Cheney seemed to frequently be in the mix of these scheduling debacles, as he coaches during sport-filled spring season. As a result of the countless cancellations, teams often have to hold their practices at any available location. “We try to make the most of it, as we typically watch film in the classroom for an hour, then use the gym floor as a simulation of the field,” he said. “It’s not nearly as effective as being on the field, but hopefully the new turf will reduce the consistency of cancelled practices.”

Another benefit of turf instead of grass is that a majority of the games played on the high school level are on turf. Although the average person wouldn’t think that there is much of a difference between playing on turf and playing on grass, senior lacrosse captain, James Brewer asserted otherwise. “Especially when it comes to lacrosse, the difference between grass and turf is huge,” he said. “Not only can the ground can alter the way that the ball rolls or bounces, it can be dangerous because the grass could possibly stay muddy for up to three days after a solid rain.”

North Atlanta teams are not the only ones who use the secondary field for their practices. Youth lacrosse teams such as Thunder Buckhead and the Northside Surge rely on the field also. The turf will be an exceptional addition for a number of teams, as they count on the field to be in playable condition. 

The installation of the new turf field is a big step in updating the North Atlanta athletic facilities. With the gradual increase of North Atlanta athletics success, the new facilities will hopefully help the Warriors continue to become more dominant. Now more than ever, it’s clear that the Dubs have home-turf advantage.