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/560546
www.stma.org September 2015 | SportsTurf 43 WHY STMA SHOULD CONSIDER YOUR FIELD A WINNER? Noblesville Schools was like every other public school in America. Although their athletic program was important to them, it was not a financial priority to maintain their athletic fields. That started to change 5 years ago when the Director of Opera- tions, Jeff Bragg, hired Jamie Mehringer and J&D Turf to start a fertility program along with getting their skin up to grade and continually improving it. Once this program took off, Dunker Field started to differentiate from other schools in the area. Noblesville took it one step further and hired a college-educated sports turf man- ager. With the creation of this position, the field would not only have someone looking over it year round, it would actually have someone who knew what they were doing, maintaining it. They would also go on to purchase a Toro Sidewinder to yet again separate themselves from other schools. Just by adding a manager, one mower, and a fertility program costing no more than $10,000 a year, Dunker Field stands out from all the rest. In the pictures attached, you can see the difference from just 3 years ago to today. We recently hosted a tournament, and specta- tors who had been coming to the field for years thought we had tore the field up and built a brand new field in the offseason. I simply responded with, "If you have the right equipment, someone who knows how to use the equipment, and a little bit of money, you can have this field as well." I think Dunker Field deserves the Field of the Year Award, because of what it start- ed out as and what it has become. We are a good example to other public schools that they can have these types of fields as well; it just takes a little TLC. To most people, aes- thetics of a field are all that matter but to us sports turf managers, playability and field conditions area major factor. Dunker not only looks great but also plays and drains excellently. Between three high school teams games/practices, travel ball, fall ball, and hosting two-three tournaments, the field held up great. The main picture shot behind home plate was taken right before our State tournament in June. Before this photo, 45 games and who knows how many practices had been on the field. There was a FIELD OF THE YEAR