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/37461
B RETT TANNER, director of stadium grounds at Columbus Crew Stadium, Columbus, OH led his own crew to the Sports Turf Managers Association’s 2010 Professional Soccer Field of the Year Award. That crew includes full-timers Ray White, Ben Jackson and Chris Fox (who recently left to go to Red Bull Arena); and part-timers Gary Rasor, Mitch Litz, Lucas Easterbrook, David Vuchenich, Ryan Martin and intern Brandon Thrower. The facility was built in 1999, one of the country’s first soccer- specific stadiums. It also sees clinics, rugby, lacrosse, football, disc golf, concerts and festivals each year. Turf varieties include Midnight Star and Brilliant Kentucky bluegrasses, and Barllineum, Pinnacle 2 and BarBeta perennial ryegrasses. The drainage system has 4-inch perforated pipe on 15-foot centers, running to two 8-inch collec- tors. From Tanner’s entry package: “During the 2010 season we encountered many challenges. The summer was one of the most difficult in recent years for this region, with high temperatures and very little rainfall. Upon completing the season, we will have hosted five different sports on our field: soccer, football, lacrosse, disc golf, and rugby. On top of that we’ve hosted numerous concerts and festivals. “Wear areas on our field include goal mouths, bench areas and the referee runs; to help combat this we typically spot overseed before events and this has helped us maintain turf coverage in these areas. “A main concern during this busy schedule was trying to shift wear patterns during non-Crew (the professional soccer team and stadium owner) events. During the season we hosted a number of high school soccer matches by using temporary white paint and shifting our soccer field out of its standard field size. By doing this we stopped wear in the goal mouths, which of course get heavy use during Crew training and matches. We would place two pieces of TerraFlor over the goal mouth to help stimulate growth. We were heading toward no re-sodding of the goal mouths as this application was written in mid-October. “We hosted a rugby tournament for the first time ever, which meant we had to install goal posts. We asked advice of our peers for adapting our field, and borrowed some collars custom made for rugby goal posts from fellow MLS groundskeeper Bret Baird in Col- orado. By reaching out and asking for advice from those who had done it before, we were able to reduce our field damage and install the posts in reasonable time. “Wear areas on our field include goal mouths, bench areas and the referee runs; to help combat this we typically spot overseed be- fore events and this has helped us maintain turf coverage in these areas. We also broadcast seed throughout the ‘diamond’ wear pat- tern typical of most soccer fields. The players and officials cleat in this seed and we avoid having to put heavier machinery on the field. “Monday following weekend events we will rotary mow the en- www.stma.org SportsTurf 41