Facility&Operations | ByRich Watson
What does I
"safe playing fields" really mean?
The district shares a property line with world famous Pine Valley Golf Club. The grounds department is responsible for maintaining about 60 acres of irrigated turf district wide. The Pine Hill grounds crew members are Carmelo Anguilla, Greg Bunting, Tom Crosby and Bill Loftus.
AM THE GROUNDS SUPERVI- SOR at Pine Hill, a small K-12 school district located in the southern part of New Jersey not far from Philadelphia.
about everyone involved in the turf indus- try most likely has heard the term "safe playing fields" used by a variety of people in regards to the safety of our children. Many times sports field managers have been portrayed as being trained only to apply pesticides on a schedule to deal with pests and not someone who is aware about safer alternatives that prevent these prob- lems long term.
Over the course of the past year, just
>> Above left: WATSON is grounds supervisor at Pine Hill, a small school district in southern New Jersey near Philadelphia. The district shares a property line with world famous Pine Valley Golf Club.
formed" and "misguided" to describe those of us who apply pesticides on athletic fields. These types of statements have led me to stand up and try to bring some clar- ity to the conversation about safe playing fields in my home state of New Jersey. Lost in this conversation are the dedication, time and energy that sports turf managers put into their craft. Most people don't see the pre-dawn irrigation checks, the week- end visits on site, and the amount of time spent at home researching, plotting and planning updates to our turf plan, all in pursuit of the safety of the athletes that use
I have heard terms like "careless," "uninformed" and "misguided" to describe those of us who apply pesticides on athletic fields.
18 SportsTurf | August 2012 www.sportsturfonline.com I have heard terms like "careless," "unin-
