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/517437
www.stma.org June 2015 | SportsTurf 21 2. Agricultural Sciences Department Chair where I oversee the entire department. In addition to the hor- ticulture side of things, we have degrees in Registered Veterinary Technology, Horse Ranch Management and Agri- Technology. We have a 110-acre farm that includes horses, sheep, swine, cattle, a few llamas, a Zebu and a Watusi named Norma Jean. We also have a state-of-the-art animal hospital in our new Agricultural Sciences facility that was completed in 2011. This new facility has several lecture and laboratory rooms, a computer lab and offices for our nine full-time fac- ulty and several of our classified staff. We also have a 10-acre nursery where we grow a diverse plant palette to sell to raise money for our program. 3. Turf Team coach where I have been organizing the team since the first competition in Orlando in 2006. This responsibility includes qualifying students for the team, training the team, acquisition of funds for travel (which in the past has included several landscape jobs installed by turf team members) and organizing all travel details. Chaz Perea has been coaching the team since 2011 and he has taken over the primary responsibility of conducting all training ses- sions. 4. Overseeing our turf plots and sports turf lab, which consists of Kent Kurtz Memorial Stadium, a Wiffle ball field we installed to provide a training area for sports turf stu- dents and occasional extremely competitive night Wiffle ball games using glow-in-the-dark balls. ST: How has your career benefitted from being a member of STMA? SCOTT: I think it started as a student member when I was attending Cal Poly Pomona. Dr. Kent Kurtz was my advisor and I remember working out of that office in Upland when he was the Executive Director of STMA. Doc encouraged me to apply for an STMA scholarship. I did and was awarded the "Harry Gill" scholarship. It was to be awarded at the first independent STMA National Conference in Vero Beach, FL in 1989. Doc told me I had to go to Florida to receive the award; I told him that it would cost me more to go to Florida than the scholarship awarded me. The next thing I knew he told me that the hotel and airfare were all taken care of by STMA. I came to find out later through sources that he paid it out of his own pocket! The banquet room that year was very small and I sat at a table with Doc and Harry Gill. I will never forget that eve- ning. It instilled something in me that was rekindled in 2001 when I began my teaching career. Once again, I found myself seeking council from my long-term mentor, Doc. He was still at Cal Poly (which is right next door to Mt. SAC). He welcomed my students as they were his own. He edified my in front of my students even when I was very wet behind the ears. He helped me to plug back in to STMA as he and Steve Dugas were getting ready to start a new local chapter, which became the Greater LA Basin STMA, the chapter of which I am now serving as President. I became an active member of the national STMA that same year when the conference was in Vegas. I have been to every conference since and have met many people who have helped me develop the turf program at Mt. SAC to what it is today. We did not even have a sports turf program when I started and now we have a program that has national recognition through the STMA. The suc- cess of my students is what my career is all about. In that light, STMA has provided an avenue of success for my stu- dents, thus an avenue of success for me. ST: How do you explain your students' history of success in the STMA's Student Competition? SCOTT: I believe that it is my role to give students a vision that overpowers the excuses that would keep them from the immense commitment of time and effort that is required to prepare for the competition. I have always talked about the opportunities that are created by attending the conference and networking and learning from their potential employers. I also speak to the fact that the relationships they build with their teammates through the entire experience will last a lifetime. I share with them that my own experience in college was defined by going "above and beyond," investing time in extracurricular activities that are still paying dividends today. I also live by the philosophy that I would rather have a few extremely dedicated students on the team rather than a larger number of partially committed students. We do not accept partial commitments. I attribute much of our success in recent years to the coaching efforts of Chaz Perea. He has developed an incred- ible training system. His expectations of the students are extremely high; but at the same time he dedicates countless hours to their success, and they see that and appreciate it. Chaz and I are not paid for the time we spend develop- ing the turf team. The students do not earn units toward their degree for participating on the team. The only reason I also live by the philosophy that I would rather have a few extremely dedicated students on the team rather than a larger number of partially committed students. We do not accept partial commitments. Continued on page 43