SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/26719
during construction to meet this need. “Like everyone else in America except the Yankees, we found our- selves up against budget cuts this season. Off the top, all game-day staff took a $.50 an hour pay cut. Because they are awesome and love what they do, all who were eligible chose to return. Also facilitating operational change for us this season was the elimination of a day crew at the stadium. In addition to the field, we also have landscape duties throughout the facility; we don’t have huge plots but labor hours-in- tensive none the less. We worked hard and developed an effective ro- tation allowing us to be much more efficient with our time in this area. “The last of our challenges, which we overcame as a staff, was to provide a quality product. Kaleb Reynolds, my full time man, started at the stadium on the day crew and then came to work for me halfway through our first season 3 years ago. I have a bachelor’s degree in an unrelated field and Kaleb has a high school diploma and some JuCo courses completed. I have been learning how to manager turf on the fly with the help of more seasoned professionals in our field, and Kaleb has been learning from and with me. Sometimes I wish we pos- sessed more technical and book knowledge, but we have found what works best for us though we continue on our quest for knowledge.” “Our biggest challenge this year became apparent in the off season. I went for a surgical procedure in February and ended up with e coli in my knee, and spent 60 days bed-ridden with no movement in my right knee, and of course unable to get to the ballpark. At that point, Kaleb, with the assistance of our new operations manager, George Sis- son (whose turf management credentials include being a Class A gen- eral manager and growing up on a farm), along with spot duty by our crew, proceeded to finish pre-season preparations, host high school baseball, and open the season while I was on the physically unable to perform list. Kaleb and the crew did an awesome job, the field looked great, played well, and their on-field dance became a fan favorite. No matter what situation they faced, they met it head on and excelled. “While sitting in the dugout waiting for batting practice to end, I heard this exchange: ‘That’s groundskeeping there; all the other stuff we do is just mainte- nance.’ “A young staff member chimes in, ‘I never thought we’d make it.’” “And with that batting practice ended; as bodies scattered to begin field prep, the longest-tenured member of the crew said, ‘We always do, we always do.’” SportsTurf: What changes are you planning to make to your main- tenance plan for 2011, if any? Sowell: Our current maintenance plan is one we have developed in the first 3 years of our field. It is a combination of what we have www.stma.org SportsTurf 51