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
ABBY MCNEAL, CSFM Assistant Director of Parks City and County of Denver I was actively researching jobs of interest that would allow me to grow more in a leadership role and share my knowledge. I had wanted to get more into an administrative role and did not see that happening in my previous position (director of turf management for Wake Forest University). I was wearing lots of hats (and still am in Denver) but was truly confused about where my expertise was at. I realized that I loved sports turf and would like share what I know in that area as well as the facilities maintenance and field and building construction aspects that I have learned along the way. I was also missing being closer to family and Colorado is "home" so it was natural for me to look there. I started my career in Parks and Recreation and thought that I would be able to share what I know and grow in the areas that I wanted to, so I focused on that area but in my job search I did not limit my options. FAMILY I thought about how this would affect my family and me. Being close with my sister and her family, and having life-long friends nearby would provide me support and great opportunities for my kids to experience. Nothing replaces family and most of my life-long friends are my family. Returning to where some of this extended family were was an easy thing. I already have seen my sister more since relocating than in the past 4 years I was away. My kids were excited to be near their aunt and uncle and cous- ins and embraced the chance to meet new friends. We talked about it openly once I accepted the position and we worked together to make it good for all three of us. I addressed various concerns about how things would make it from point A to point B and we talked about what we might miss and what new things we might discover. I feel like I have very resilient twins (6 1/2 years old); we still talk about the friends we miss today and when we will see them again. My main focus was on the excitement of what was ahead for all of us. I would not have to work as many weekends of late nights and we would be able to spend more time together doing fun things. As a result we are all submersed into various sports and activities that would have been a challenge had I not changed positions. You asked what was important to my kids about the move… my son needed to understand how everything in the house was going to fit into the moving truck! They both dove in and helped pack things and understood how things would make it www.stma.org June 2015 | SportsTurf 33 NOTES ON RELOCATING FOR A JOB Editor's note: Sports turf management, especially at the collegiate and professional levels, can mean moving frequently, most often to take a higher-paying job. If you are considering relocating for work, here are three perspectives that might be of interest.