The National Sports Center (NSC) invites the public to preview the facility's new FieldTurf Duraspine artificial turf field at a free open house scheduled for 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 9.

The turf is being installed in the indoor Sports Hall. The installation, a two-week process, began Oct. 27.

The open house will feature players from the Minnesota Thunder pro soccer team and the Minnesota Swarm pro lacrosse team. Representatives of FieldTurf Tarkett, product manufacturer, will be on hand to answer technical questions about the new field. The public is invited to bring along a soccer ball, football, lacrosse equipment or other sports gear, and to give the new turf a sports test.

Refreshments will be served. Representatives of the NSC's Sports Programming Department will be on hand to register teams for leagues, or to book rental hours on the new field.

The NSC's indoor Sports Hall is host to field sports such as soccer, lacrosse, rugby and football throughout the year. It is used for leagues, training sessions and team practices. The new field will be available for rental to outside organizations, such as soccer and lacrosse clubs, schools, churches and community organizations. The National Sports Center's indoor youth and adult soccer leagues will have the capacity to expand, due to the year-round availability.

"This new surface will provide a quantum improvement in playing surface for teams playing in any sport," said Steve Olson, the NSC's chief operating officer. "Our new FieldTurf field will provide the highest quality indoor playing surface available today. Teams are going to love playing here."

FieldTurf Tarkett, based in Montreal, pioneered the new generation of "infilled" artificial turf, in which sand and rubber pellets are infilled between monofilament fiber blades of synthetic grass. FieldTurf has been installed in 21 NFL stadiums. The Duraspine turf is unique in that it has two different fibers that help the blades stand up straight over time.

The NSC's FieldTurf field in the Sports Hall will cover 60,996 square feet, including the hallway in the Sports Hall. The installation of turf in the hallway will allow that area to be used as a training area.

The turf will remain in the Sports Hall year-round, as opposed to the old turf that was installed for the winter season only, and removed seven months a year.

Several soccer clubs have already rented blocks of time for training sessions on the new turf, including the Champlin-Dayton, Coon Rapids, Blaine, North Suburban, Centennial and St. Paul Blackhawks soccer clubs, and the Minnesota Thunder USL team.

Teams in any sport wanting to join an NSC league or to rent time for practices and games on the NSC's new indoor FieldTurf field should call Matt Koehn, NSC event coordinator, at 763-717-3899.