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For the fields that are properly marked - especially those artificial turf fields,
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At our scrimmage Saturday night, one of the BJ/Wingmen brought up a point.
We were on an artificial surface with the white border. About 10 of our schools have gone to Field Turf in the last 3-4 years. Only two of those stadiums were started from scratch, a third has a track around it and an awesome soccer program so that field is wider. The rest were built on existing fields, inside the confines of the existing stadium.
None of these field's borders have the NFHS specified 2 yards or more restricted area marked. My guess is these borders measure out at about 4 feet wide. One or two fields may be half that.
This BJ began pointing to a soccer sideline beyond the border and declared that was closer to 6 ft and that should be the restricted area if he were on a wing. I responded that the border area, while not within the NFHS specs, was certainly more discernable, and I, a wing, could more than live with that space. Its certainly more room than I've had in the prior 15 years.
I'll be interested to see how well the grass fields are marked. One school in particular is little more than a glorified cow pasture. My feeling is the grass fields will actually be marked to the 2 yd. spec since they have to be painted and those coaches will be further back than games on turf. (Not that I care)