It takes time for changes to happen but, eventually, they will come. Fast and furious. Exactly 20 years ago Corominas got selected to represent her country of birth, Chile, as defender for her university’s football team at the second South American University Games which were to be hosted in Curitiba the following year. “It was during my days as a player that I fell in love with turf grass and science,” she recalls her entry to the sector. “I liked the idea of playing with plants and the science behind it, particularly aspects like playability, sustainability and the player-surface interaction.”

Fast forward to 2025, Coromina has been involved with a string of companies that each strive to contribute to better grass and grass surfaces, spearheads the ETS, and, at the time this interview was conducted, was immensely busy with the preparations of the pitches that were to be used for the U-20 FIFA World Cup 2025, coincidentally in Chile. “It is good to see how turf care has become more data-driven and that the grounds teams now have many more tools available to deliver a good pitch compared to what these teams had back in the days that I played football.” She attributes much of this to three developments: the drive by football governing bodies like FIFA to introduce more and better standards; an industry that has gained momentum in developing technologies and techniques that can help professionals in improving the pitch, and the growing trend of data-gathering and knowledge transfer.

A people’s sector

The third development, in particular, Corominas holds very close. “The turf care industry is a people’s industry, driven by personal relationships and passion. However, like in many other industries, we struggle to keep up with the growing demand for professionals as well as the increasingly high standards we pursue.