SportsTurf

August 2011

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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STMA in action Southeast Regional Conference draws good crowd NEARLY 200 PEOPLE attended the 2011 STMA Southeast Regional Conference in Knoxville, TN June 15-16. The event kicked off with tours of the softball and soccer com- plex at the University of Tennessee, followed by a 3-hour outdoor trade show on site at the Uni- versity’s new Center for Athletic Field Safety (CAFS), where attendees got up close and per- sonal with products of 31 exhibitors, including some equipment test drives. After lunch the skies darkened and STMA staffers Patrick Allen and Kristen Althouse hustled the crowd in- side a building at the Center for that day’s ed- ucational workshops. The Tennessee Valley, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia Chapters sent members and attendees came from as far away as Delaware and south Florida. Dr. John Sorochan, associate professor of turfgrass science at Tennessee and Director One hundred percent of the respondents reported that they benefited professionally from attending, and 89% rated the event above- average or excellent. of the CAFS, and doctoral student Adam Thoms introduced attendees to the Center, which includes 60 30 x 15-foot “mini-foot- ball” plots that include every type of syn- thetic field in use today as well as natural turf species on native soil, sand build-up and sand- cap bases. Sorochan said they will be testing in field conditions, looking not only at traffic issues but also injuries, specifi- cally studying the inter- actions between turf and cleats (and other shoe types), and also will be monitoring envi- ronmental conditions under the surfaces. The Center officially opened July 13. Dr. Sorochan was joined by Drs. Tom Sam- ples, Mike Goatley, Jim Brosnan, Grady Miller, and Brandon Horvath of the University turf pro- gram, and Eric Fasben- der, CSFM and Jesse Driver, CSFM, to discuss topics ranging from field painting, athletic covers, new bermuda- grasses and pest management, to the new Center for Athletic Field Safety (CAFS) at the STMA program deadlines approaching SEVERAL STMA PROGRAMS, including Inno- vative Awards, Field of the Year Awards, SAFE Scholarship and Founders Awards, have ap- plication deadlines this fall. The deadline for STMA Commercial Mem- bers to apply for the STMA Innovative Awards is October 1. To submit for this award, the product, service, or equipment being sub- mitted must have been introduced for sale after the close of the 2011 STMA Conference & Exhibition but before the close of next year’s STMA show in Long Beach. Submis- sions should “Substantially enhance the effi- ciency and effectiveness of the Sports Turf Manager and/or make the playing surfaces safer and/or more playable for athletes.” The STMA Field of the Year program deadline is October 15. All materials must be submitted electronically by this date. Be sure 44 SportsTurf | August 2011 to read the application carefully, as the en- tire process is now done electronically. The process requires that applicants fill out no less than four STMA Playing Conditions Index (PCI) worksheets to apply for Field of the Year. The STMA PCI is available online. SAFE Scholarship applications are due Oc- tober 15. All materials must be submitted in one packet and faxed applications will not be accepted. STMA Founders Award nominations are due October 15. These are STMA’s most pres- tigious awards and are presented in honor of the founders of STMA: Dr. William Daniel, Dick Ericson, George Toma and Harry Gill. More information is available online. For applications, nomination forms, to get the STMA PCI or for more information, please log on to www.STMA.org. ■ University of Tennessee. A group outing to watch the Tennessee Smokies take on the Chattanooga Lookouts was rained out that night, so attendees spent a night on their own in Knoxville. Thursday attendees chose either a base- ball and football track; each hosted at the University’s respective facility for the sport. These 2-hour sessions were followed up by “walk-the-field” tours of 102,455-seat Ney- land Stadium and Lindsey Nelson Stadium, where the Volunteer baseball team takes the diamond in SEC play. The locker rooms, work- out facilities and recruiting centers’ for both facilities were included in the tours. According to the STMA post-conference survey, attendees came for the networking, education topics and speakers, and the exhi- bition. One hundred percent of the respon- dents reported that they benefited professionally from attending, and 89% rated the event above-average or excellent. One at- tendee commented, “This was an excellent conference! I have spoken highly about it to many people since returning home. Thanks to the University of Tennessee for hosting this event, and especially for opening up their fa- cilities to us so we could view them and learn from them.” Next year’s summer regional event will be hosted by the Ohio Chapter. Keep an eye on the STMA website and future eNews for more information on what is sure to be another great educational opportunity in 2012. ■ Electronic version of STMA PCI now available STMA HAS RECENTLY completed an electronic version of the STMA Playing Conditions Index (PCI). The PCI is a very useful tool for you to evaluate the current conditions of your athletic fields at a given point in time. Keeping a log of your scores can provide you with the documentation you need to justify new resources or reallocate current resources to new areas. Log on to www.STMA.org for more informa- tion on the STMA PCI and how it can help you in your daily job. ■ www.sportsturfonline.com

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