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/678624
www.stma.org June 2016 | SportsTurf 33 Fitted nicely within a superb track and field facility (grandstand and press box included) stood one of the finest bermudagrass football fields in St. Louis. Unfortunately, cool season bluegrass was chosen to be planted directly against the warm season type as an accent between the field and the track, forecasting complaints as to why the edges of the football field "just don't look right" after a couple of seasons of cross- contamination. Bluegrass was also directly installed against long jump pits and runs complicating the issue as well as adding more time for maintenance. The rest of the athletic complex included both cool-season baseball and softball fields with fences and concrete bleachers in need of trimming, line marking, cleaning, and clearing of wasps. Two soccer field gems remained, one planted in lush, cool season bluegrass and one in bermuda. To save money, the entire irrigation relied on two main connec- tions with no booster pumps, which starved the sprinklers to operate on half pressure, creating crop circles of bright green swamps within backdrops of haystack brown drought. If that wasn't challenging enough, everything was built on a once unusable wooded ravine with a 100-foot altitude drop between one end and the other, leaving no shortage of death defying 30-degree angled strips of turf separating each component. Supplied with only a 48-inch Ransome belt drive walk- behind for the more than 50 acres of cool season grass, and a 42-inch Toro belt drive reel-type mover for the bermuda fields, I spent 60 hours a week for the next 2 years doing my best to make ends meet on a limited budget in an era where terms like sports turf manager and soil compaction were still being cor- rected by Word. I continued to get the most out of the resources I was given all the while being told there was no more money. Once my aching carpal tunnels told me I would no longer be able to operate the antiquated tools provided to me, I was miraculously blessed with a 72-inch Exmark z-turn mower for the flats, a 60-inch Exmark walk-behind with sulky to lay stripes on the hills, and a 71-inch hydro-drive John Deere reel type for the warm season fields. This was just the boost I needed! Though it took some cutting on me (surgery), I finally got to a point where I felt comfortable with the amount of time I was spend- ing versus the overall results. There was always something else to do, but at least I was keeping up with the growth rate. Jrco loved my idea of putting their spreader on the back of my Gator so much they added it to their applications list. It handled the flats quickly and hugged the hills. However, the owners decided it would be best to subcontract services such as fertilization, aeration, and over- seeding, giving me more time to focus on aesthetics and field marking. Eventually the field was so good one referee told me it was the best high school football field he had ever seen. THE REST OF THE STORY Everything my STMA peers said would happen did…and then some, as George Toma would say. No matter how much I accomplished, there was always something else wrong. My reputation was taking a beating. Grasses were dying from both poor drainage and lack of water. Drains clogged and soils became hard. Trash began to accumulate faster than the complaints. Expectations continued to grow as fast as the grass. STMA meeting invitations to educate those of power were ignored. Petitions for a part-time assistant mani- fested into students serving as summer help, including my own son! My dream was coming true…or at least partially. But, I was learning a valuable lesson. Money is there if it is for something they want. It didn't matter if the monuments honoring alumni were being built directly above areas of erosion. Lesson learned. The priorities of turf managers rarely reflect those of the money holders. What about driving the bus? Well, it got to the point that no matter how well I kept things, they would always come up with something else for me to do. It started with helping "the inside guy" with building maintenance issues during winter months leading me to other projects and learning experiences. I discov- ered shoddy plumbing in the newly remodeled weight training room. I also learned to repair the boiler heating system! Then came…you guessed it…managing the bus pool. Once we deviate from that which makes us famous, suc- cessful, happy, or just what fits us, we are spread out too thin to support the root of our belonging. We come to the fields because we love them. We care for them because they care for our children and us. I thought I was doing a favor until I looked in the mirror and saw those kids. I looked down at the steering wheel. It wasn't a hydrostatic zero-turn lever mechanism. I looked out the windshield. It wasn't green grass. I looked at the kids, again, and asked how I would best be serving them. My answer came in the form of an alumni/subcontractor with a tractor…several of them, in fact who cuts all the grass at cost. Mission accomplished. Michael Roi shares his 25 years of success in the turf industry through consulting and freelance writing.