Local sports teams will soon get a huge boost when it comes time to hold spring practices.

The APlex will soon allow teams to rent practice time on a brand-new indoor turf surface, which will cover two of the facility’s tennis courts. The turf, which was paid for by the Park Family Foundation for $43,000, will be available for use on Friday nights as well as Saturday and Sunday.

The surface is comprised of 16 pieces of turf that go together like a puzzle and are fastened together with Velcro to over more than 13,000 square feet (115 by 115).

The pieces arrived on Saturday and the APlex hopes to start offering rentals within a few weeks.

“This is a great thing for the community, for the baseball teams, softball teams, soccer teams and any sports that can be done indoors on turf,” APlex manager Norm Sommerfeld said. “It’s been a long time coming and it’s going to be great for the community.”

The availability of a turf surface to practice on should be a welcome relief for local teams who are often at the mercy of Mother Nature when the spring sports season begins. Teams are usually limited to practicing in school gyms due to snow, rain and cold temperatures that persist in late March and April. As recently as two years ago, many local teams were stuck inside nearly until May as they waited for snow and ice to melt off of practice fields.

Having an indoor turf to practice on will allow teams to more easily practice fundamentals, such as infield and outfield work as well as basic soccer drills. While local athletic teams will benefit from being able to practice on turf, Sommerfeld hopes to bring in other groups to use it as well.

The surface will be available for use on weekends for now, but the APlex intends to offer more time to use the turf as the year progresses. The facility intends to keep the turf up all week from June through September and then beginning in October, one court will have the turf down all year round, while the second court will have it just on weekends.

Bringing a turf surface to Alpena has been a topic of discussion for several years, according to Sommerfeld. The idea started as a plan to put a turf surface on Rink 2 (The Puddle) of Northern Lights Arena. It became a reality when discussions picked up a few years ago and everything aligned for the purchase to be made.

Sommerfeld said the majority of the time rented on the APlex tennis courts happens during the week for tennis and pickleball players. The upcoming times when the turf will be available are periods when the facility typically sells the least amount of rental time.

“We have courts that aren’t being used (at certain times) and there’s a need for something like this around here,” Sommerfeld said. “So many times I hear about kids who can’t practice (all they need to) because of the weather.”