hosts the local Special Olympics day on its sports fields. Every
year the sports turf staff takes 4 hours to volunteer helping
special needs athletes get to their events throughout the day.
Take on new responsibilities. Expose yourself to new
experiences by expanding your role. Make new responsibili-
ties a part of your daily work schedule. Show that you are
capable of (and can excel at) handling more/different work.
Read books or articles. There is a great deal of informa-
tion about sports turf management available; you just have
to find it. Sites like the National STMA website and univer-
sity websites sites, such as North Carolina State's turfgrass
files, provide access to articles written by industry experts
and list servs where you can connect with others in the field.
Other good sources of information can be printed material;
books likeSports Fieldsby Jim Puhalla, Jeff Krans, and Mike
Goatley, orTurfgrass Science and Culture by James Beard are
great standards for our industry. In addition, this magazine
is full of articles on current industry challenges and solutions
by knowledgeable writers with experience in the sports turf
world.
Find a mentor. If your long-term goals are to be at a
position above your current one, find someone who is cur-
rently in that position and learn from them. This can be done
over many months or in a day. Find out what it takes to do
their job and what qualifications or skills they possess that
make them good at what they do. This can also provide you
with a direction for your career and more clear goals and
action steps for your development plan.
Be a part of taking the industry standard to the next
level. You have clearly met the qualifications for your job, or
you wouldn't have been hired to do it. Don't rest on your lau-
rels. Push expectations to higher levels. Strive for excellence
as an individual and as a team. Think outside the box and
you might just put your program on the map and become an
industry expert yourself.
Regardless of your tenure in the field, professional devel-
opment should be a constant part of your work. In any
industry, the leaders who are constantly learning are those
that have the biggest impact. Broadening your knowledge
base and expanding your skills takes time, planning, and
effort. With the right research, though, you will uncover
resources that can help you take action towards achieving
your goals and becoming an even better employee, manager,
and contributor in the sports turf industry. ■
ST
Scott Stevens, CSFM, is the sports turf manager at Elon
University, Elon, NC. He is a member of the STMA Editorial
Committee.
www.stma.org November 2015 | SportsTurf 37
