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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Facility & Operations and pitching tunnels with nets that can be raised to the ceiling. That corner of the building is popular with local colleges and high schools looking for winter workouts. Jumping, running and sweating is not a prerequisite of facility use. There are more than 100,000 square feet of exhibit space, and smaller meeting rooms, for everything from birthday parties and banquets to reunions, conventions, proms and holiday parties. Orthopedic Associates of Lancaster, a partner in the facility, has offices near the front of the building. It offers on-site physical therapy offices and sports injury urgent care for Nook participants. The other half of the giant former warehouse is known as the field house. It is home to 110,000 square feet of flooring divided into two, 55,000 square-foot sections. The area can accommodate 10 full-sized indoor field hockey pitches, 30 volleyball courts, or 16 basketball courts. A 15-worker conversion crew is responsible for rolling out the Astroturf, or taking it off depending on the event being held. Behind the facility is a full-sized, multi-use synthetic turf field. Water cannons and hoses keep the turf to international specifications. Nearly all of the water used is collected from rainfall via a complex system of rain gutters on the facility's 14-acre roof. One inch of rain yields a half million gallons of water which is stored in holding tanks. The turf under the air dome is a water-based synthetic over a rubber- ized form of asphalt, a design that helps the field retain moisture. There are two fields like it in the world, the other being Manheim, Germany, according to Grant. Sensors detect moisture, temperature and wind speed. Two giant, tractor-trailer sized air rotations units process that information and maintain perfect conditions. Three brand new, sand volleyball courts, covered with special vol- leyball sand, were recently completed. In typical Spooky Nook fashion, the courts can be converted for use in sand soccer, sand field hockey, and sand training for sports performance. The only major hiccup in the for the Nook was a transportation and parking nightmare that occurred in late February when a 3-day national field hockey tournament and a 2-day state volleyball tourna- ment overlapped. "It was all part of the learning curve," Grant said. "We felt like we've actually improved since then. We've expanded some of our lots, added additional parking, added additional staff, and we feel like it's behind us." There's more growth on the horizon. The Nook will open a 132- room hotel in the spring of 2015, Goris said. "We want it to feel like you are getting away from maybe from the sports environment to a place where you can kind of "Zen out" a little bit." ■ Jeff McGaw is a free lance writer in Harrisburg, PA. 18 SportsTurf | August 2014 www.sportsturfonline.com