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/86038
SoccerPlex Stadium, Maryland SoccerPlex, Boyds, MD Level of Submission: Schools/Parks Category of Submission: Soccer Head Sports Turf Manager: Jerad Minnick Title: Sports Field Manager Education: Bachelor's degree in plant sci- ence/turfgrass management Work History: I have been the Sports Turf Manager for the 22-field, 162-acre Mary- land SoccerPlex since February of 2009. Previ- ously I served as the Director of Sports Field Operations for the Kansas City Wizards and as Manager of Grounds for the Kansas City Roy- als. Full-time staff: Nick Lievense (Manager), Ryan Bjorn (Assistant Manager), William Godoy (Foreman), and Joel Cruz. Other crew to recognize: Juan Santil- lana, Jorge Mejia, Cristhian Mejia, and Dwight Townsend-Gray (intern). Original construction: 2000 Turfgrass variety: 80% Kentucky blue- grass/20% poa annua Rootzone compostion: Sand mix, 85% sand, 15% organic/peat Overseeding: Overseed with Kentucky bluegrass @ 2 lbs/ 1000 in the spring and the fall. Soil stabilizer: TurfGrids Drainage: Herring-bone drainage system in pea gravel under 10 inches of sand. Biostimulant products and fertilizer make up a 68% of the materials budget. Proper bio- stimulant and fertilizer management is im- portant for a strong, healthy plant. A strong, healthy plant that is durable can take heavy traffic and reduces the need for additional seed and sod. Also, the healthy plant can fight off disease with it's own immune responses. That allows us to reduce our fungicide needs and costs. Additonally, healthy plants also re- quire less water because of deep roots and less mowing because it is not growing exces- sively. Topdressing sand makes up an addi- tional 28% of the materials. The use of sand is important as it protects the crown of the plant from heavy traffic. www.stma.org CHALLENGES 2011 was a year of variety and change for SoccerPlex Stadium. Maryland Soc- cerPlex champions itself on the ability to host a large number of events while pro- viding high quality fields. In 2011, the number of events continued to increase exponentially. The Freedom, Washington's Women's Professional Soccer team that called Soc- cerPlex home, moved operations to South Florida in 2011. Crystal Palace, a USL-1 team that played games at SoccerPlex, stopped operations entirely. Some facili- ties take such loses as a negative, but Soc- cerPlex was able to capitalize on the loss and add more events than before. SoccerPlex still hosted a number of high-level soccer in 2011. DC United played two matches, both against other MLS teams. SoccerPlex added the ACC- Big East Challenge, an annual event that is a "tune up" to host the 2012 and 2013 ACC Conference Tournaments. Several other colleges were also able to add matches to SoccerPlex. Following Hurri- cane Irene and a Tropical Depression that brought over 13 inches of rain to DC in 4 days, the University of Mary- land moved a rainy day match to Soccer- Plex. The field at Maryland was unplayable, but SoccerPlex Stadium was ready for play. The addition of youth matches and clinics is where SoccerPlex was able to in- crease its event number the most. These additional events also added the biggest challenge in to maintaining the stadium at a professional level. Youth clinics are held 2-3 hours daily on the field. Youth tournaments at the 22-field Maryland SoccerPlex were allowed to increase from 5 games per day on the Stadium to 8-10. SoccerPlex's signature tournament, Dis- covery Cup, hosted 24 games in 2.5 days. Being sand based, the stadium not only benefited the University of Maryland during the fall where the area has received over 20 inches of rain. It also allowed Soc- cerPlex to move 84 small-sided and 30 full-sided youth matches onto the Sta- dium to reduce the number of rainouts from the remaining 18 native soil fields. The large number of events, different type of events (youth clinics/ small-sided soccer/ full sided soccer/ professional soccer/ lacrosse, etc), and the challenge of the extremely wet fall certainly make SoccerPlex a unique field with unique challenges. Even with increased events we maintained a professional quality field in 2011. job responsibilities? Minnick: My job responsibilities SportsTurf: What are your specific >> Jerad Minnick mowing SoccerPlex Stadium. >>Watering SoccerPlex Stadium following seeding on September 1, 2012. SportsTurf 39