8 SportsTurf | June 2014 www.sportsturfonline.com
Field Science | By Rich Watson
F
or as long as I can remember, I have spent
most of my winters going to continuing educa-
tion classes. I can recall many great talks about
baseball field maintenance for all different lev-
els of competition. There are many sources of information
about the craft of maintaining baseball fields. However,
when it comes to the sport of football, I don't recall many
talks or articles about maintaining a high school field or
any other type of football field.
I hope maintaining a cool-season natural grass football
field is not becoming a dying art. It is an art, you know.
Taking a beautiful turf canvas in pleasant September
weather and keeping it safe and playable as the tempera-
tures drop through Thanksgiving takes an artist's touch.
A couple of years ago I spent some time talking with Tony
Leonard of the Philadelphia Eagles about this subject on
our way back from the STMA Conference in Daytona.
Even at the highest level of completion, Tony is often
asked "Why can't you grow grass on that field"?
During our discussion, I found out that there are
many reasons why it is difficult. Sharing the stadium with
Temple University, dealing with shade issues, hosting
many non-football related events and maintaining turf
in a very narrow set of hash marks are just a few of the
Our maintenance program doesn't begin and end with the
football season but rather focuses on a yearlong approach.
The new season begins as the old one ends.
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FooTball mainTenance
For cool-SeaSon high
School FieldS