Athletic field safety is a growing national concern. Recent concerns over the performance safety of synthetic athletic fields has created a new focus on how to maximize the performance and safety of natural grass athletic fields. The objective of this project is to compare various turfgrass species, mixtures, and blends under different fertility rates when subjected to simulated athletic traffic to track the performance and safety of each surface. Additionally, surface hardness will be evaluated with the TruFirm hardness device typically used on golf course putting greens to see if a correlation exists between the TruFirm and Clegg Impact Soil Tester. This is the first year of a two-year study.