ATHLETIC FIELD USE & MAINTENANCE PLANNING

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Brenda Rogers
6 years ago
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1 ATHLETIC FIELD USE & MAINTENANCE PLANNING

2 Create and Manage Expectations Train/Teach Communicate Document Explain Politics Authority/Boss Client $ Agenda Agronomy Botany Experience

3 Create and Manage Expectations Establish relationships. If you don t spend enough time in the yellow bubble you ll never get back to the green bubble. Have to get buy-in from the field owners and the field users whose agendas may vary vastly. The better your documentation and the more thorough your policies, the faster you can get back to the happy green bubble!

4 Teach Train Communicate Document Explain Tools to Create and Manage Expectations

5 Public Document: General & Comprehensive What we have. Where it is. What we are going to do to it. How we will assess it. Most park and athletic field users are satisfied just knowing there is a plan. It implies leadership and organization which in turn supports the effort to create and manage expectations.

10 Assess!

11 Daily Task Sheets

13 Teach Train Communicate Document Explain Tools to Create and Manage Expectations

14 Training Tool for Partner Associations Again goes to creating and managing expectations. This manual spells out how the Township expects users to treat and maintain the fields. Posted on our website. Copies in field storage rooms and concession stands.

17 Teach Train Communicate Document Explain Tools to Create and Manage Expectations

18 New For 2012 Season Accepted by all Partner Associations which account for 95% of field usage. Adopted by Township Board of Supervisors. Middle-of-the-Road: specific but not overly penal. Probably not great for fields with high percentage of public use.

19 Changes in association leadership Scheduling Tournaments, camps, extra events Roll out new policies or maintenance plans Assess capital needs

20 Get involved in the scheduling process The most easily avoidable wear that any field gets

21 Website updated daily at 11am. Overrule by associations. Onus to close fields that have deteriorated since an open posting. Moisture meterobjectivity.

22 To Lenient? To Tough? This is what Cranberry Township is comfortable with each school, park, or complex will have a different level of tolerance for discipline and enforcement.

23 Northeast Virgina Pop. 1,081, Highest Income County in America

24 Orange County in Southern California Pop. 109,000

25 Policy covers 7 days per week MUDLINE communication tool 6:30 am until?? Offenders pay for damages

26 Seriously tough! High level of staff involvement and training needed. High number of administrative tasks involved in enforcement. Pretty expensive program. With strict rules, number of events a field can handle would go up.

27 What About Your Athletic Field Use Policy? General Mostly public use? Mostly Associations with some governing structure? Who will coordinate scheduling? Enforcement and administrative time and cost? Will your community support a strict or penal policy? Agronomics Rest and renovation periods Determining open/closed status and communication Scheduled maintenance closures Preventive measures like field rotation and avoiding wear areas during practices

28 Teach Train Communicate Document Explain Tools to Create and Manage Expectations

29 Field Use: How Many Events Can it Handle? It Depends: Soil, Irrigation, Maintenance, Expectation

30 How much is too much? by Dr. Dave Minner Dept. of Horticulture at Iowa State University Keep a record of all field events, not just games. Practice, band, concerts, ceremonies all count. Football causes more injury than soccer, and both sports injure turf more severely than baseball. Using the same field for multiple sports usually leads to very poor conditions for at least one of the sports. The starting point: 100% turf coverage, all plants at least 4 months old, ½ inch of mat, and excessive moisture is not a problem. Then you can expect the following of a football field: Wear patterns after 10 events Thinned turf at 25 events Beyond 50 events, anticipate severe loss of turf on at least 20,000 sq. ft. of the field.

32 October 2011: Field A Lacrosse/Football after 160 Events Season Total: 178 Events What are the expectations? And can I influence them?

33 September 2011: Baseball Field J at 150 Events Season Total: 200+ Events Irrigated turf on a baseball field can handle a very high number of events.

34 August 2012: Soccer Field F at 105 Events Season Total: 155 Events What is the magic number? Should the Field Use Policy include a maximum number of events per field?

35 Native Clay Soils Compaction Infiltration

36 Punch Holes!

37 Creative Solutions for Specific Problems

38 Determining the Right Amount of Play on Your Fields General How much are they getting used now (hours or events)? Is scheduling structured to protect the fields? Do you have a Field Use Policy to help prevent damage? Finances Is your budget sufficient to support heavy field traffic? Do you have the right equipment? Is the labor available to support high traffic fields? Agronomics What are your soils? Native clay based soils need to be improved to support high levels of play. Do you have the ability to irrigate?

39 Again, Expectations.

40 Questions?

Athletic Field Renovation and Construction from a Groundskeepers Perspective

Athletic Field Renovation and Construction from a Groundskeepers Perspective Speakers Chad Price, CSFM, CFB- Carolina Green Patrick Coakley, CSFM-Ripkin Baseball Josh Marden, CSFM- Turface Athletics Getting