For Field Hockey, a New, Blue View Olympic field hockey has been played on artificial turf since the 1980 Games in Moscow, but the playing surface in London will be blue instead of the traditional green. The field at Riverbank Stadium, the venue that will host 76 games between 24 teams competing for medals in the men's and women's divisions, has a cobalt blue Astro Turf playing surface and sideline areas in bright pink. The color combination makes the ball more visible for spectators, both in person and on television. If you look at a bird's eye view of the Olympic Village, the blue turf stands out and everyone's drawn to it. And the yellow ball really stands out on the field," said U.S. forward Michelle Vittese. The decision to use a blue field came from London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and the International Hockey Federation. Populous, an architecture firm that has created venues for every Olympics since the 1996 Games in Atlanta, designed the field and stadium. The hockey venue's the fourth cornerstone in this park, after the Olympic Stadium, the aquatic center and the Velodrome. It's got to hold its own," said Chris Jopson, an associate principal with Populous. With temporary architecture, you can do amazing things. There's flexibility to do things where you might not otherwise have them.You're not really playing on a grass surface and I think the federation really wants to move on from that. I think it will release a bit more color into the sport. Blue fields of play are rare, but not unheard of in other sports. Boise State University's Bronco Stadium has a blue Astro Turf playing surface, and in tennis the U.S. Open and the Australian Open adopted blue hard courts for telegenic purposes in 2005 and 2008 respectively. The blue clay courts at the 2012 Madrid Open were more controversial; Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal complained about the slipperiness of the blue clay and have said they would not return to the event unless the red clay was restored. The University of Virginia installed a blue turf field hockey field in summer 2011. It's one of the only blue field hockey fields in the country, which is why it was chosen as a training site for Team USA as the Americans prepared for the London Games earlier this month. "It gives off a little bit of a silvery blue sheen, and there is an adjustment, but it's not hard to get used to," said Vittese, a Virginia player who missed the 2011 season to train with the U.S. national team. The U.S. team secured its Olympic bid with a shocking 4-2 upset of field hockey powerhouse Argentina in the 2011 Pan Am Games championship in October. The 10th-ranked Americans's first opponent in London will be No. 3 Germany on July 29. The U.S. has not medaled in Olympic field hockey since 1984, when it claimed the bronze. With upsets in mind, Vittese seems more than fine with the nontraditional blue field. Green turf, it's not boring, but it's old. Why not try something new? Plus our red jerseys on the blue turf look awesome," said Vittese. Every other team looks at us like we're an easy win. I think we're capable of changing history.