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/409813
44 SportsTurf | November 2014 www.sportsturfonline.com Field oF the Year made an even bigger difference is in the spring season. Before 2009, we didn't overseed or manage the field very intensely in the spring. We have since tried to put as much focus on soccer as football. As seen from the pictures, the Jungle Turf Crew spends a great deal of time before each soccer game striping, painting logos, and attending to all the little details that have made our soccer field as great as our football field. It is because of these reasons I believe we should be considered for Soccer Field of the Year. Editor's note: Following Michael Hopkins' retirement, his teaching posi- tion was assumed by Adrian Austin, and she responds to our questions below: SportsTurf: What channels of communication do you use to reach coaches, administrators, and users of your facility? Any tips for com- municating well? Austin: I personally prefer speaking directly with coaches and ad- ministrators, but also use email, phone calls and texting for communi- cation. In my particular situation, it can be challenging to make sure ev- eryone is on the same page since I am technically the field manager and have two athletic directors (one for the middle school and one for the high school), two principals (one for the middle school and one for the high school, who is a former LCHS AD) and a very involved assistant superintendent (another former LCHS AD) who I work closely with. I am very lucky to have these former athletic directors, who understand some of the details related to field management, on staff who look out for our program. I try to attend as many sporting events as possible, to support the coaches and team members and keep that feeling of "fam- ily" alive in our school. I also make it a point to seek out coaches to see if there is anything the Jungle Turf Crew (JTC) can to do help with their field needs or they will come to me if they have a request. ST: What are your specific responsibilities? What is your favorite task? Least favorite? Austin: My main job responsibility is teaching at LCHS, specializing in turfgrass, landscaping and floral design. One of my favorite parts of the job is being able to manage and lead the JTC, our student grounds crew, which currently consists of 15 juniors and seniors (12 boys and 3 girls). ey do everything from mowing, weedeating, seeding, painting, servicing equipment, trash removal, goal maintenance, game day prep, etc. Nothing makes me happier than sitting in the stadium stands on a ursday afternoon with the JTC, soaking up all of the hard work and effort put into the field that week for a Friday night game in "e Jungle." I would have to say my favorite responsibility is a toss up between mowing and painting. My least favorite responsibility is dealing with some of the stress that is associated with the job, mainly due to Mother Nature and when she decides we can and can't work on fields. I tell my students all the time that I don't decide when we work on the fields, Mother Nature does. We check the weather daily and keep an eye out for adverse weather situations and try to plan accordingly. ST: How did you get your start in turf management? What was your first job? Austin: For the past 8 years, I have been an agricultural educator. I earned my BS (Agriculture Extension Education) and my MS (Horti- culture with a concentration in Landscape Contracting) from Virginia Tech. During the first 7 years of my career, I had very little experience as a hands on turf manager, teaching Introduction to Turfgrass & Ad- vanced Turfgrass Applications at a different high school. My students and I were limited when it came to what we could actually do on the fields. When I changed school systems and became employed by Loui- sa County High School in the summer of 2013, my role changed quite a bit. I am still an agricultural educator, but also have a dual role as field manager of the high school and middle school complexes (consisting of seven game and practice fields, all natural grass). I guess you could say, this is my first true sports turf job and I'm loving every minute of it! ST: What changes if any are you considering or implementing for the winning field in 2014? Austin: Louisa County High School has been fortunate to win FOTY for soccer and football. As far as changes, we did fraze mow the stadium this past summer and are seeing tremendous results across the board. We are planning to eventually enter our baseball field for FOTY and we follow a similar management plan on baseball, as we do for football/soccer. ST: How do you see the Sports Turf Manager's job changing in the future? Austin: I feel like the turf industry is ever changing, so managers' jobs follow suit. With the addition of so many synthetic fields these days, managers who maintain those complexes have already had a huge change in their normal turf responsibilities. It is my hope that people pay more attention and appreciate the efforts of turf managers and their crews. ■ STMA would like to thank Carolina Green, Ewing, Hunter Indus- tries and World Class Athletic Surfaces for their continued support of the Field of the Year Awards Program.