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/82015
CHALLENGES The "Jungle" has always been known as the place to be on Fri- day nights in Louisa because of championship play by our Lions, fireworks, sky divers, a real lion and many more side shows. It took on a totally new meaning on Sept. 23th when a 5.8 earth- quake struck our school causing it to be condemned. During the next three weeks, while the middle school was being turned into a temporary home for our 1500 students, we had two home games scheduled for our varsity football team. The Principal, Athletic Di- rector, and I got together and decided that the school and commu- nity, which had also been devastated by the epicenter of the quake, needed something to inspire hope and rally the community. We decided it would be our beloved Jungle, since that was one of the only structures not affected by the quake. We planned a Commu- nity Pep Rally on the Thursday night before the first game. To complicate things, Hurricane Irene came up the East Coast the weekend before, dumping over 5" of rain on the field. The Jungle Turf Crew showed up for 3 days to prepare the field for the game. We completed all work on the field before the pep rally, which drew over 1000 people, thinking that we would have an easy day on Friday. To my surprise, I arrived on Friday to a field that had been vandalized by four students from the visiting team. They had spray painted graffiti from one end of the field to the other, on the press box, and score board. I called the Jungle Turf Crew and we went to work. We sprayed the field with a turf dye first and then repainted all lines, numbers and logos; completing the task just in time for the paint to dry enough to play one of the most important games in our history. That night we had over 6,000 people in at- tendance, which was the second biggest crowd ever to watch a game in the Jungle. No one in the stands could tell that any van- dalism had taken place. The following week we had another chal- lenge just as big. A tropical storm came up the coast dumping over 6" of rain on the field Tuesday through Thursday. Every time we started painting the sky would open up and wash the paint away. On Friday the sun came out and for the second week in a row, we painted the entire field on the same day as the game. The Jungle Turf Crew created a motto that was announced at the game that night: Neither earthquakes, hurricanes, vandalism, nor tropical storms can keep the Jungle Turf Crew from preparing the field for the mighty Lions. www.stma.org SportsTurf 37