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/506886
www.stma.org May 2015 | SportsTurf 7 Allen Johnson, CSFM. johnsona@packers.com Direct Mail List Sales MeritDirect, Jim Scova Phone: (914) 368-1012 jscova@MeritDirect.com Subscription Services Phone: (847) 763-9565 Fax: (847) 763-9569 Reprints Robin Cooper rcooper@specialtyim.com Group Publisher David Voll dvoll@epgmediallc.com Account Representatives: Chris Pelikan Senior Account Manager - East Phone: (954) 964-8676 cpelikan@epgmediallc.com Peggy Tupper Senior Account Manager - Mid-West Phone: (763) 383-4429 ptupper@epgmediallc.com Leslie Palmer Senior Account Manager - West Phone: (248) 731-7596 lpalmer@specialtyim.com Publisher's Notice: We Assume No Responsibility For The Validity Of Claims In Connection With Items Appearing In Sportsturf. Reader Service Numbers Are Given To Facilitate Further Inquiry. Mention Of A Commercial Product Does Not Imply Endorsement By Sportsturf Or EPG Media & Specialty Information, Or Preference Over Similar Products Not Mentioned. O ne of my favorite lines is, "They don't know that they don't know." Think of all the sce- narios that play out daily with that phrase in mind. People often make off-the-cuff statements as if they were factual when in reality they may have no idea what they are talking about. It's funny when you overhear someone speaking about a topic that you know well firsthand, to see how an ill-informed person can massacre the story. Anyone have someone in the media make those types of comments about their play- ing surface? This also happens in our daily lives when we try to make sense of what's going on in the world. Those who try to keep up on the news and current events no doubt will have formed opinions. Unfortunately, almost none of us can know the entire picture. We can only form our thoughts based on our own life experiences and the information available to us. One can only imagine how eye opening of an experience it must be to become the President of our nation and learn about all that is classified. Maybe it's good to not know everything, which lends itself to another very true phrase: "ignorance is bliss." What does all of this have to do with the Sports Turf Managers Association? When I first joined the association it seemed there was an unwritten code of conduct that addressed both of these phrases. It was part of our culture that we would not make comments about a peer in our industry or their fields. We also wouldn't judge their abilities or disparage them in anyway. It not only fit with our theme of being a profes- sional, but it also made logical sense. How could any of us speak intelligently about someone else's work situation or their abili- ties unless we wore their shoes? Enter the social media phenomenon over the past few years that seems to invite emotional, ill-informed comments and it is easy to see how an association's profession- alism could start to diminish. Fortunately, the vast majority of our membership's interactions are overwhelmingly positive and supportive, but I'm bringing up this topic because I've started to witness a few instances creeping into our association that have been the opposite in nature. The business of our association and its members is to constantly promote profes- sionalism and the growth and betterment of the sports field manager. It is our respon- sibility to lift each other up rather than tear each other down. It is with this type of spirit that the association began our roots. Though we may have disagreements in the family about how to properly maintain various surfaces or which type of surface is better, those disagreements should not take away from the professionalism in which we view and interact with each other. We can't know what we don't know, which should be knowledge enough to keep us from speaking ignorantly. All of our members are professional equals; let's continue to treat each other as such. ■ ST PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE WE'RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER