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/621615
FIELD SCIENCE 10 SportsTurf | January 2016 www.sportsturfonline.com as an assistant groundskeeper and he worked with them for three seasons. From there, he went to the San Diego Padres for four seasons as an assistant. At the end of his fourth sea- son with the Padres, he saw a listing for a Director of Field Operations with the Washington Nationals. By then, he had the training and confidence necessary to manage the big show. He applied. "I went through the interview process and things hap- pened to work out," Turnour says. That was six seasons ago. Is it luck, persistence or tenacity that takes a sports turf manager to the highest level of the profession? "It's certainly not going to be presented to you. It's some- thing you have to work for, like anything else in life. Hard work, dedication, taking initiative and knowing what your career goals are," Turnour says. "I think it's a matter of putting yourself in the right situation and pursuing that goal. Pick your path and go after it. I really don't know what it was that drove me to pursue a job in Major League Baseball. I enjoyed my time working at the university level and I enjoyed my time working in Minor League ball. Since I've been in Major League Baseball, there hasn't been a day I've looked back and second-guessed it." At Nationals Park, Turnour's crew consists of himself, three full-time assistants, 15 tarp crew members, and six interns from turf programs all over the United States. "Our ultimate goal for interns is to set a foundation for them as they start thinking about their career and which path they may want to pursue upon graduating. We encourage our interns to take initiative, ask questions, and get involved. We have been extremely fortunate over the past six seasons to have a great group of interns and we look forward to continu- ing that moving forward," Turnour says. Hosting interns gives him the opportunity to teach others and pay it forward, the way Ray Brincefield did for him at NC State. Nationals Park supports 81 home games a season. In between home stands, and during the off-season, the stadium hosts one to three concerts a year, as well as non-baseball events like the NHL Winter Classic on New Year's Day 2015. Preparing the field and keeping it in good shape takes year- round effort and planning. Located just south of the capital in Washington, DC, Nationals Park sits in the southernmost region of the transi- tion zone. While the weather there could have supported a warm-season turfgrass, instead the field was planted with a cool-season grass. Nationals Park consists of a four-way blend of Kentucky bluegrass: P-105, Moonlight, Bewitched and Ginney. It's grown from seed at Tuckahoe Turf in New Jersey. The field has only been completely resodded twice since it was originally installed during the fall of 2007. Areas of wear are either seeded or resodded, as needed. "The growing season for grass mirrors the months of the baseball season here in the Mid-Atlantic area, and with us being located in the transition zone, we have the ability to grow either a cool-season or warm-season grass. Both options have their challenges; however, our experience with Kentucky bluegrass has provided a consistent surface that we are com- fortable with presenting for play," Turnour says. "Growing a cool-season grass in the southern portion of the transition zone allows us to be fairly aggressive with our cultural prac- tices during the spring and fall months. Summer months are a little more sensitive which results in us managing the turf based off of current weather conditions in conjunction with the baseball and non-baseball event schedule." Managing a cool-season grass in his region allows him to forego overseeding, which he sees as a benefit. "From the start of the season to the end, we are playing on one variety of grass," Turnour says. Height of cut varies throughout the year, from as low as 7/8 inch during the season on up to 1-1/4- inch in the winter. The turf is mowed every day when the team is in town. When the team is on the road, Turnour says he backs off to mowing "as needed." The infield dirt mix at Nationals Park is conditioned and topdressed with calcined clay. "We topdress the surface with a calcined clay product that enables us to manage the moisture to provide a safe, consistent playing surface," he says. Turnour has used a calcined clay infield conditioner from Turface Athletics, and other brands, as a "moisture manage- ment tool." John Turnour, head groundskeeper, Washington Nationals.