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/54529
>> KIRKWOOD COMMUNITY COLLEGE TEAM: L to R: Lynda Wightman, Luke Perkins, Tyler Dean, Tim Sims, Tyler Timmerman, and Troy McQuillen (coach). an up close look at facilities that are seen on tel- evision and have always wished to be able to go to. The tours were a mix of different fields and facilities that all member groups of STMA were able to enjoy. The Tuesday tours consisted of Hollywood Horse Race Track, the Home Depot Center, the MLB Urban Youth Acad- emy and Blair Field. The Wednesday tours were the Rose Bowl, Los Angeles Dodgers Sta- dium, Loyola Marymount and University of California State Long Beach." STUDENT CHALLENGE The STMA Student Challenge is presented in partnership with the SAFE Foundation and Founding Partner Hunter Industries. The Challenge consists of several parts; the exam is formatted to include multiple-choice, fill-in- the-blank, matching, reading passages, and short answer sections. Some questions may re- quire physical or visual identification of plant materials, pests, supplies, tools, equipment, irri- gation components, ballfield soils and materi- als, synthetic turf components, soils, or other sports field related items. This year's winners were: Two-year colleges: 1st place—Kirkwood Community College, Team 204 209 211 404 3rd place—Virginia Tech, Team 405 Mt. San Antonio College won the 2-year contest a year ago, and Purdue repeated as 4- year champs from 2011. Kirkwood CC coach Troy McQuillen said, "All are students are 2nd year in the Golf www.stma.org 2nd place—Mt. San Antonio College, Team 3rd place—Mt. San Antonio College, Team Four-year colleges: 1st place—Purdue University, Team 402 2nd place—University of Maryland, Team >> MT. SAN ANTONIO COLLEGE TEAM #211: L to R: Lynda Wightman, Hunter Industries, Raquel Zepeda, Fleur Nooyen, Danielle (Dani) Booth, Kelly De La Peza, and Brian Scott (coach), who asked that we also recognize adjunct profes- sor Chaz Perea, a 2x Challenge champ, who put in many hours to help train the students >> MT. SAN ANTONIO COLLEGE TEAM #209: L to R: Chris Romo, David Plascencia, Kay Hoevel and Kevin Marsh, and Brian Scott (coach). >> VIRGINIA TECH TEAM: L to R: Lynda Wight- man of Hunter Industries, George Aschmann, Robert Estienne, Logan Horne and Jeremy Atkins. Course and Athletic Turfgrass Management Program. They raised $6,000 to attend STMA through lawn aerations, sodding projects, and baseball field edging activities. The students started studying for the test back in October meeting every Wednesday night. The students also worked over Christmas Break studying for the exam. This is the first time we place 1st in the competition. We are very proud of the group, it's a huge accomplishment for the pro- gram and the college." The students will be using the $4,000 from winning the competition to fund specific tools and additional lab areas for the Athletic Field Maintenance Course. INNOVATION AWARD STMA Commercial Vice President Rene Asprion, Diamond Pro/TXI, presented the 2012 STMA Award for Commercial Innova- tion to g2 turftools during trade show hours Friday. The award was for their 84" Turf- planer, a product judged by the STMA Awards Committee to substantially enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the Sports Turf Manager, and make playing surfaces >> PURDUE UNIVERSITY TEAM: L to R: Lynda Wightman of Hunter Industries, Zak Peterson, John Thackery, Ben Baumer, Joey Gerking, and Tracy Tudor (graduate assistant/coach). safer and more playable for athletes. G2 turftools received an award on the trade show floor, signage to be placed in their booth, and will have use of the 2012 Innovative Award logo with the winning product ad infinitum. See full story on the product on page 41. INNOVATIVE SESSIONS There was a nice early morning crowd for Friday's Innovative Sessions. Jason Kruse from the University of Florida covered nicely the progress in remote sensing technology's role in sports turf management, and Dr. "Trey" Rogers from Michigan State followed up with research and insights into growing Kentucky bluegrass in a monostand versus blend. Gerard van't Klooster from The Netherlands reviewed progress made with use of additional light on sports turf, including its use in Lambeau Sta- dium (see article page 34 in November issue of this magazine). The 2013 STMA Conference and Exhibi- tion, which will be the association's 24th annual event, will be January 15-19, 2013 in Daytona Beach, FL. The Exhibition will be at the Day- tona Beach Convention Center and the official hotel of the event is the Hilton Daytona Beach Oceanfront Resort. ■ SportsTurf 43