SportsTurf

June 2014

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.

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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. ›› FooTball mainTenance For cool-SeaSon high School FieldS

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