APT’S FIRST NETBALL-CERTIFIED SYNTHETIC TURF IS HERE
14 Oct 2020
The Australian-made Poligras® H2OZ COOLplus® sports turf is APT Asia Pacific's first synthetic turf to be certified for netball – making it now certified across three separate sporting codes.
Originally developed for hockey, APT’s Poligras H2OZ COOLplus has already received National and Multisport Category 1 certification from the International Hockey Federation (FIH). However, it has recently achieved the FIH’s Multisport 2 classification, known as Gen 2, which enables the surface to be used for hockey, tennis and netball. Consequently, APT Asia Pacific now also has its first synthetic turf to be classified for netball. 
Netball is typically played on a hard surface, however, this new classification for Poligras H2OZ COOLplus presents a huge opportunity for the sport. Netball is the leading team sport for women and girls in Australia, with over a million active participants. It is a very quick, explosive, and high intensity game, which unfortunately comes with a high risk of injury. The most common types of injuries are sprains, bruising, fractures, and dislocations, which can be caused by awkward landings, slips/falls, player contact/collision, overexertion, and being hit by the ball.
Poligras H2OZ COOLplus turf offers greater protection from many of these injuries compared to a hard surface. Firstly, all Poligras systems have the option to be installed with a shock absorption layer underneath the surface. This layer consists of recycled SBR granules and bonding agents to ensure that the synthetic turf is both stable and yielding to protect the players. 
Secondly, synthetic turf offers greater force reduction properties than hard surfaces. Force reduction evaluates a surface's ability to reduce impact force. This mostly relates to impacts on the body’s lower extremities, for example, from running. APT Asia Pacific’s synthetic turfs greatly reduce tissue damage, joint impact, and player fatigue.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Poligras H2OZ COOLplus has achieved a British Pendulum Number (BPN) rating of 82 in wet conditions and 85 in dry conditions. The BPN test, as set by Standards Australia, measures a surface’s slip resistance. The National Netball Facilities Manual requires a minimum 75 BPN for all netball surfaces, making Poligras H2OZ COOLplus excellent for slip-resistance. 
Poligras H2OZ COOLplus is an Australian made, high-performance surface system with exclusive monofilament yarn design, assisting player movements when accelerating, turning, and slowing down. It features APT’s proprietary COOLplus® sports yarn technology, which keeps the surface temperature cooler by up to 20%, and an exclusive Entanglement Technology which protects against fibre splicing and offers a considerably longer surface lifespan.
If you are a builder, specifier, local council, school, or member of a sporting organisation, and have an upcoming project which requires a multisport court, APT Asia Pacific would love to talk with you further. To find out more visit APT Asia Pacific via the links below.
