Watered Hockey Pitch

[Marijn]

Why is the Paralympics Hockey pitch so heavily watered?

[Fibonacci]

Its a water-based synthetic pitch rather than many which are sand-based

[Marijn]

Thank you. Is there an advantage for it to be wet?

[Calibax]

It enables players to get their stick under the ball more easily and also reduces the danger of friction burns in a fall.

[Fibonacci]

Most artificial pitches are either "sand-based" or "water-based".

Sand-based pitches are either dressed or filled with sand in order to stabilise the pile and keep it upright. They are cheap but they have the disadvantage of being very rough if you fall on them (you get a very bad carpet burn).

Water-based pitches use a layer of water to separate out the pile. They tend to be more expensive to install but are much nicer to fall on as you don't get a really bad burn/cut filled with sand.

They do need to be well watered for safety reasons.

[Marijn]

Thank you. Brilliant answers.