Most conversations about sports surfaces happen in meeting rooms, specification documents, or product brochures.

TenCate is taking a different approach.

Through a series of Pivot® Field Days held across the United States, coaches, athletic directors, facility managers, architects, and municipal leaders are being invited onto the field itself to experience a surface and see the data behind it firsthand.

The concept is simple: understanding a playing surface starts by stepping onto it.

At each Field Day, participants have the opportunity to observe athlete movement in real time while researchers collect biomechanical data using wearable sensors and performance monitoring technology.

As athletes accelerate, decelerate, cut, and change direction, the data provides insight into how they interact with the surface beneath them.

The goal is not simply to demonstrate a product. It is to help visitors better understand athlete-surface interaction and the role a playing surface can have in the overall sporting experience.

The approach reflects the philosophy behind the development of Pivot.

Created at the Center for Turf Innovation (CTI), the system was developed through years of research, athlete testing, and field validation. Researchers combined laboratory analysis with real-world athlete feedback to better understand the characteristics players associate with high-quality natural grass surfaces.

Field Days create an opportunity to bring that research process into the open, allowing visitors to connect what they feel on the field with the data being collected alongside it.

The first event was held at 3&2 Baseball Club in Kansas, where coaches, athletic directors, and facility decision-makers experienced the surface while observing biomechanical testing in action.

For many participants, the ability to combine firsthand experience with measurable data created a different kind of conversation around field performance.

Rather than relying solely on specifications or product literature, visitors could evaluate the surface through direct observation and personal experience.

As sports facilities continue to evolve, decision-makers are looking for more than product claims. They want evidence, context, and opportunities to understand how a surface performs under real conditions.

The Field Day concept reflects that shift.

By combining athlete testing, research, and real-world demonstration, each event creates a space where performance can be experienced, measured, and discussed in the same place.

And in many ways, that is exactly how the next generation of sports surfaces should be evaluated: not only through data, and not only through perception, but through both working together.