Clover football coach praises turf

Blue Eagle head football coach Chad Smith, who said he is optimistic about the coming season, speaks in glowing terms of Clover High School’s facility upgrades.

“Two turf practice fields at the school and another at the stadium is an ideal situation for us,” said Smith.

The artificial turf on practice fields at Clover High and Clover Middle and at Memorial Stadium was part of a $99 million school construction package approved by voters last year.

Smith is elated with Clover’s upgrades.

“You can rotate and have a lot of room for all the teams,” he said about the turf on three fields. “We’re definitely blessed with our facilities. The support base in Clover is second to none, fan-wise and facility-wise.”

Smith said artificial turf can be better in some ways than natural grass. “I think the new turf is faster,” he said. “I don’t think it’s an advantage or disadvantage. I love it.”

He said turf fields are low maintenance and can withstand the elements for the most part.

“The only thing that will drive you inside now is lightning,” said Smith. “You don’t have to worry about the grass or worry about anything when it’s pouring. It drains unbelievably well.”

Smith said the only drawback to turf fields is the heat. “It’s kind of like you’re on top of a roof in the hot sun,” he said. “I think all of the pros outweigh the cons.”

He added: “I didn’t know how I would feel about the turf until we got it on our practice field last year. Every since we’ve had it, man it’s been fantastic.”

Smith said he was pleased with the CHS football team’s four-day camp in Aiken last week.

“Our kids bonded well down there in Aiken, stayed together and worked extremely hard those four days,” he said. “We elected captains and had a real good time there.”

The season opens against Westside Aug. 21.

“I feel pretty good about where we are right now compared to the last two years,” he said. “I would like for the numbers to be a little bit higher. But at the same time, I think everybody in the school now knows our philosophies. They know what we stand for.

“We have young men who are willing to pay the price for us. I will go to war with these kids we have on the field anytime against anybody. They’re great kids. They work extremely hard and are starting to really come together.”

The Blue Eagles will also have three scrimmages, all at Memorial Stadium, before the season opener.

The first scrimmage, Aug. 6, is against Broome, a team coached by former Blue Eagle head coach Jet Turner.

“We went there last year,” Smith said.

Smith said there is mutual respect between himself and Turner.

“We communicated before I took over the job here,” he said. “We’ve called each other in the past and asked each other some things. We had a great working relationship before I took the Clover job.”

Smith said Broome is a quality opponent.

“It will be a very physical scrimmage, a good scrimmage,” he said. “Then we have Chapman the following Monday, Aug. 10. They’ll be athletic and spread you out a little bit.

“We’ll get to see two completely opposite teams and two teams that are up and up in 3A.”

Concluded Smith: “We close out our preseason action Aug. 14 against Hunter Huss in a 7:30 p.m. scrimmage, getting ready for the Westside Rams coming to town Aug. 21 to start the new season.”

This story was originally published July 29, 2015 at 2:56 PM with the headline "Clover football coach praises turf."