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: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/30215
all the sports fields the following year. In 2002 Moran worked with other hort instructors in Hanover County to develop a county-based turf science curriculum, which was adopted by the Virginia Department of Education as a state-based curriculum. Later that year Atlee High School became the first in the state to teach Turf Science as a recognized course. Given the available access to the school’s sports fields, Moran adopted them as his “land laboratory.” SPORTSTURF: Has anything changed for your program in light of your winning a Field of the Year Award last year? MORAN: As a program we have always prided ourselves on trying to maintain expec- tations that far exceed that of administration, coaches, and athletes. I think the degree of credibility the students and the program have gained has been most noticeable. My students often are the ones who answer the questions that we get from members of the community, coaches, and student body. Most of the students in the program have a strong under- standing of the little details that have allowed our fields to perform at a Field of the Year level. When you hear them answer questions from an administrator, Our goal is to communicate that the business of Sports Turf Management is a very complex and complicated industry that requires untold hours to get the job done properly. I currently have four students who are seeking to study turf sci- ence in college and one is in his second season with our Double-A baseball team as the assistant grounds keeper. My goal is to teach each student how to work as a team to accomplish a common goal. instruct a coach on proper traffic rotation, or pick up a bit of trash that the typical adult would pass by, you get a real sense that you have done things the right way. Many positive e-mails and phone calls from coaches, parents, and even athletic directors from other schools confirm that. Our Superintendent, School Board, Principal, and Athletic Director have all expressed their appreciation to the students and they respect the work that they do and encourage them to keep building from each success. Our goal is to communicate that the business of Sports Turf Management is a very complex and complicated industry that re- quires untold hours to get the job done properly. My students are quick to point out to those who think it is as easy as jumping on a mower and cutting grass that it is so much more than that. I have even heard a young man tell another student “If your dad thinks it is that easy, tell him to come by class tomorrow and push the paint machine and paint a straight line.” His dad has never shown up. ST: Have any of your former students gone into turf manage- ment careers (yet)? MORAN: I have had the good fortune to work with an incredi- ble group of young men and women since we started our program in 2001. Since then I have had several students who have worked or studied in the turf and landscape industry. I currently have four graduates pursuing either a 2 or 4-year degree in the turf/landscape industry. I have a graduate who is now a college baseball coach and early in his collegiate coaching career he was tasked with managing the baseball complex as well as other sports turf areas on his cam- pus. He told me that each day he had to call on things he did in high school and that those things he learned allowed him to be suc- cessful even though it was not part of his overall career goal. www.stma.org SportsTurf 37