T°Cool® Evaporative Cooling Technology Descends on Texas High School Football.
Read the feature in Shelby County Today .
Joaquin High School, located in Shelby County, Texas, is assuming a leadership position in the battle against extreme heat on synthetic turf fields, as the high school is the first venue in the state to install T°Cool®, a revolutionary evaporative cooling technology designed to combat the oppressive heat on synthetic turf surfaces. This news comes in advance of High School Football Season and as student-athletes prepare to compete in multiple outdoor sports, while enduring extreme heat across the state.
During warm weather months, synthetic turf temperatures can get hot, consistently exceeding 150° in Texas, making the fields uncomfortable and often unplayable. The extreme heat on synthetic turf fields is primarily driven by the sun and composition of the synthetic turf fibers. T°Cool treated infill is a proven solution for reducing this heat and cooling the entire synthetic turf system by 30°- 50° for sustained periods of time, making fields cooler, safer and more playable, and without compromising the performance benefits.
“We are super excited to install the T°Cool® solution on our new synthetic turf field at Joaquin,” said Wade Lawson, Boys Athletic Director/Head Football Coach Joaquin I.S.D. “The heat mixed with high humidity levels can be a real issue here in Texas, and it’s something that I was worried about as we initially planned our transition from a natural grass field to synthetic turf. Integrating T°Cool® to this project, to help keep surface temperatures closer to that of natural grass, was a big relief on my part. We look forward to many good years on our new synthetic turf field.”
T°Cool® is an eco-friendly, super absorbent polymer, that cools the synthetic turf surfaces by coating the infill. Once installed, the T°Cool® solution continuously activates through rain, dew, humidity and/or watering the field, thus reducing the field temperature and bringing the overall field temperature closer to that of natural grass.
“Heat from the sun makes a synthetic turf field dangerously hot, and places limitations on teams and athletes,” said Rick Oleksyk, Principal, TCoolPT. “T°Cool® technology is being utilized on dozens of fields nationwide and is proven to cool down the turf for an extended period of time. This is a gamechanger in Texas that greatly benefits athletes, coaches, officials and anyone using the field during warm weather months, while further promoting the safety of student-athletes, which should always be the top priority.”
According to leading university studies, playing on fields where the temperature is higher than 122° is not considered safe. By following those safety guidelines, unless a synthetic turf field is treated by a cooling agent such as T°Cool®, the field would not be available for activity on many days.
In 2020, T°Cool® technology was installed at more than two dozen sports facilities, including The Citadel’s historic Johnson Hagood Stadium - the 1st NCAA Division I Athletic Field in the USA to use T°Cool® – as well as the first baseball field at Laramie Park (Skokie Park District) in Skokie, IL. Moreover, the technology is also now used internationally on five fields on the Caribbean Nation of Saint Lucia, headlined by Soufriere-Stadium - the host venue for International Soccer matches.
As an added benefit, T°Cool’s evaporative cooling solution for synthetic turf fields also reduces the coefficient of friction, thus diminishing the severity of turf burns, while effectively reducing the growth of harmful bacteria on open wounds.