FieldTurf Helps Make Salisbury School a Top Destination for New England Athletics

Synthetic turf provides football, soccer, lacrosse, and baseball teams with reliable playability and safety

The following article was originally published in the Winter 2026 Edition of NEPSAC News.

Several years ago, Salisbury School, the Northwest Connecticut boarding school, released a video extolling the virtues of ‘The Salisbury Gentle-man’. Brief but impactful, it represents both the playfulness (“Salisbury Gentle-man. I want that guy as a son-in-law.”), and the camaraderie (“Salisbury Gentle-man is the brother that everyone needs.”) that one hopes to find in an institution that emphasizes community, brotherhood, and the forging of lifelong friendships. It also serves as a highlight reel for the extensive facilities that have cemented Salisbury as a top New England destination for athletics.

Boasting a 725-acre campus, Salisbury School’s rural surroundings provide an idyllic setting for nurturing the mental, physical, creative, and spiritual development that helps students embody its motto of ‘Esse Quam Videri,’ which translates to ‘To be, rather than to seem.’ More than just a motto, this mindset empowers students to pursue a wide range of academic, artistic, and athletic goals. On the latter front, Salisbury has more than 30 interscholastic teams that students can join, spanning fall, winter, and spring.

With sports and the Crimson Knight tradition being such an integral part of the Salisbury experience, the school has consistently invested in providing its student-athletes with facilities that rival or surpass those of other schools in the region. A critical part of that is responding to the challenges posed by the New England weather, which regularly places Connecticut among the rainiest states in the country. This is where the almost 20-year relationship between Salisbury and FieldTurf, the region’s leading synthetic turf supplier, comes into play.

FieldTurf first came to the Salisbury campus in 2007, when the school relocated its main playing surface, used for football, soccer, and lacrosse, and now known as Wachtmeister Field, and converted it from natural grass to synthetic turf. The change alleviated concerns about lost time due to bad weather and negated typical field maintenance issues, allowing for more uninterrupted play.

The need for reliable safety and playability in the face of unfavorable conditions has made synthetic turf an increasingly popular surface solution, especially for schools in New England. As is the case with Salisbury, consistent access to state-of-the-art athletics facilities is essential to fostering leadership traits, discipline, teamwork, and respect for others.

“The synthetic turf offers flexibility that allows our students to make the most of their time on the field,” said Tim Sinclair ’91, who joined the Salisbury faculty in 1995 and has been Director of Athletics since 2000. “Our experience with it has been nothing but positive, and I would never go back to grass, given the conditions we encounter located in the Northwest corner of Connecticut.”

The importance of stable field conditions, despite unpredictable weather, was further highlighted with FieldTurf’s next installation in 2020, after the Crimson Knights lost an entire baseball season due to drainage problems that resulted in unplayable field conditions. In response, Salisbury installed new synthetic turf at Natalie Gardner Baseball Field, positioning Salisbury as an optimal host for early-season games when competitors’ fields might not yet be ready for action.

While initially unsure of how turf would perform for baseball, Sinclair quickly embraced the change.

“I was somewhat skeptical, as it was my first experience with using synthetic turf for baseball. Now, I feel that we have one of the better baseball facilities in New England,” he said. “We can play home games in early spring when there’s rain and have hosted baseball showcases later in the season. Our field is always ready to go.”

When the baseball field was installed, a new soccer pitch, also featuring FieldTurf, was seamlessly incorporated into its outfield, meaning that Wachtmeister Field would only need to host football and lacrosse moving forward. This led to the most recent project, which saw Wachtmeister resurfaced with a FieldTurf Classic HD system. The system, designed to enhance durability and safety, is the latest upgrade to a venue that has also added stadium seating since its initial installation.

Providing top-quality playing surfaces is just one way that Salisbury continues to support a rich legacy of success, which has seen its teams frequently in contention for league and New England championships across multiple sports. The true foundation for the Crimson Knights' success lies in a dedicated team of coaches and advisors who make a personal investment in their students and take on mentorship roles that can prove critical to their interpersonal and academic success.

As Salisbury prepares to celebrate its 125th anniversary later this year, its commitment to time-honored traditions, while also embracing modern education and innovation, has strengthened its reputation for creating environments that champion risk-taking in the pursuit of personal growth.

This distinct quality is highlighted in another Salisbury school video, ‘Sarum: The Spirit of Salisbury’, dedicated to an undefinable energy that is unique to Salisbury and must be experienced to be truly understood. It illustrates the passion, brotherhood, and infectious joy that permeate the sprawling campus, with no shortage of contributions from the athletics department.

The video also includes a moment when Reverend Dr. Kirk Hall, a graduate of Salisbury who served as its Chaplain for 11 years, provides a student with the following advice that further explains what makes the school such a uniquely inspirational place of learning:

“Connect with your inner Sarum. That voice, that always knows the way, like a compass. The one that tells you to stop and listen.”