SportsTurf

October 2014

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.

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36 SportsTurf | October 2014 www.sportsturfonline.com Irrigation & Drainage "We also worked on another project, a proposed new high school on an 80-acre open farm site with heavy clay almost everywhere. Soil borings in a depressed area of the site identified sand of various grain size diameters, perfect as a field drainage material as well as support below concrete slabs. The design team took advantage of this depressed area by removing its clay layer and excavating the sand for use creating a build- ing pad and for use below all proposed concrete walks on this sticky clay site. This sand was also blended into the existing topsoil for all the PE/ athletic fields. A separate machine was brought to the site to accomplish the blending process. The depressed area that remained was perfect as a sunken stadium with spectator seating built into the side slopes." And if at the crux of the problem is the cost, says Wrona, there are usually various ways to address it. Narrow pipe trenching can help move water off clay fields. Generally, professionals in a specific geographical area have experience with workarounds and can let field owners know if other possibilities exist. Balancing the needs of the owner, the needs of the athletes and the need to bring the project in on budget can be a challenge. At the same time, however, be sure to factor in maintenance costs. "Naturally, a sand-based field, if maintained properly, will drain a lot quicker than a natural soil field and will allow play quickly after a rain event," says Dan Wright. "With a sand-based field it is imperative to maintain the field properly to ensure playability and drainage is main- tained. A maintenance budget for a sand-based field will be more than for a natural soil field. " In addition to being less expensive to build, many native soil fields offer good water retention and can hold soil nutrients, minimizing the need for fertilization and irrigation, as compared to a sand-based field. However, as previously mentioned, they do absorb water more slowly, and can become muddy, worn and unplayable. And one day of rain can lead to more than one day's worth of delay when it comes to scheduling games, something that ultimately may wind up in costs to rent alternate field space. So what's the answer? Listen to the professionals, get all the informa- tion you can and take every aspect into consideration when planning. There is no "perfect" field, but there is a field that is right for any given situation. ■ Mary Helen Sprecher is a free lance writer who wrote this article on behalf of the American Sports Builders Association. ASBA is a non- profit association helping designers, builders, owners, operators and users understand quality athletic field construction. ASBA offers the publica- tion, "Sports Fields: A Construction and Maintenance Manual," which discusses, among other topics, sustainability in the construction and maintenance of synthetic fields, as well as synthetic turf recycling. For information, visit www.sportsbuilders.org.

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