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/726375
44 SportsTurf | October 2016 www.sportsturfonline.com 44 SportsTurf | October 2016 www.sportsturfonline.com FIELD OF THE YEAR help enhance root zone productivity we deep cored twice, core aerifi ed three times, verticut twice and also top dressed USGA sand on two occasions. We feel we began the 2015 soccer season as the best collegiate soccer fi eld in the country with our aggressive summer maintenance strategy to recover from deep 2014-2015 post season runs and a weather impacted spring. Thus, we feel Klockner Stadium is deserving of the STMA Collegiate Soccer Field of the Year. SportsTurf: What attracted you to a career in sports turf management? Pritchard: Three signifi cant reasons: I grew up seeing the satisfaction my father received creating wood furniture. I grew up on a baseball diamond and would stripe my own yard and the entire neighborhood as a 10-year old. And I had the opportunity to work for Bobby Campbell as a student at the University of Tennessee. Like my father creating a fi ne piece of furniture, I knew the fi rst Saturday I watched 110,000 people in Neyland Stadium look down upon something I helped create, I could never doing anything else and be satisfi ed at work. SportsTurf: What are your biggest challenges in providing excellent playing surfaces? And how do you approach those challenges? Pritchard: Phil Bathalon and I do the best we can with what we have to get the job done. We have a small staff and our equipment could have antique plates on them! With a small staff we need to work very effi ciently to meet our expectations. When equipment goes down or breaks, this can be extremely challenging. Our approach when those challenges arise is to be prepared for them. We grind our own reels in house to save time, for example. We keep spare pumps/cables for our paint machines and repair them in house during the winter. We can't fi x everything on the spot, but we try to anticipate what might slow us down. ST: What changes if any did you implement this year for the winning fi eld? Pritchard: Phil Bathalon is one hell of a sports turf manager. He is tireless making Klockner Stadium the absolute best NCAA soccer and lacrosse fi eld in the country. There are no tricks or short cuts to having a great fi eld. Hard work with sound agronomic principles is the only thing that will elevate a fi eld. Recently we installed a Weathermatic SmartLink controller. This controller allows us much more fl exibility as it is controlled through a laptop or smartphone. Our soccer coaches recently asked us to start watering the fi eld pregame and just before the second half. This controller allowed me to let our game manager JANUARY With the fi eld completely dormant and being between seasons, we focused on surrounding grounds, equipment maintenance, and taking soil samples. FEBRUARY With the fi eld still in dormancy and the fi rst men's lacrosse game on February 14 preparation for the season begins in earnest. To initiate compaction relief, the fi eld was solid tined a week prior to the fi rst game. We received the fi rst snowfall of the winter during the fi rst game of the season causing the fi eld to be in whiteout conditions. To continue play, the fi eld lines were cleared throughout the game. Following this snowfall we had one more snowstorm causing the fi eld to be unplayable until March. ■ Solid tined 8mm tines at four inch spacing ■ Mowed four times at 0.75 inches ■ Blew debris off the fi eld ■ Removed grow cover from soccer goal mouths ■ Layout and painted lacrosse fi eld (including logo) ■ Hand topdressed sand in goalie creases ■ One pallet of dolomitic lime (trying to melt snow applying half of the recommended lime from soil sample) ■ Sprayed Floratine Per"4"Max @3oz/1000, Maxiplex @3oz/1000, Envy@32oz/120 gal MARCH Due to snow cover, two games were moved to the fi eld hockey fi eld (which is able to be plowed). On March 9, the fi eld was clear of snow and the focus was to prepare the fi eld for back-to-back games: men's lacrosse on the 10th, women's lacrosse on the 11th, and a men's/women's doubleheader on the 14th (the men's game being nationally televised). ■ Painted men's lacrosse fi eld (March 9) ■ Solid tined 8mm tines at four inch spacing (March 10) ■ Blew desiccation and debris (March 9/10) ■ Measured out and painted women's fi eld (March 11) ■ Re-painted both fi elds (March 12) ■ Mowed at a maximum of three times per week at 0.75 inch ■ Aerifi ed with 5/8 inch hollow core tines at four inch spacing and picked up cores ■ Maintained goalie creases and areas around the women's lacrosse 8 meter fan ■ Hand topdressed sand in goalie creases and fi lled divots ■ Blew the fi eld following all games to remove desiccated grass and debris ■ Air Spike once a week ■ Turned on irrigation ■ Irrigated to ET 21-0-0 @. 5lbN/1000 Sprayed Floratine Per"4"Max @3oz/1000, Protosyn @3oz/1000, Maxiplex @3oz/1000, Foursome @16oz/120 gal APRIL During April UVa hosted their fi nal six home games. UVa then hosted the fi rst ever expanded ACC Women's Lacrosse Championship played on natural grass. Beginning on Wednesday the fi eld hosted seven, one-hour practices. On Thursday and Friday six games were played on the fi eld. In between games we repainted the midfi eld face off and the top of the 8-meter fan. We also made sure the men's lacrosse crease was safe and level. Preparation for Sunday's nationally televised championship game began following the fi nal game on Friday by mowing and blowing the fi eld. Early Saturday morning we repainted the fi eld allowing time to dry before two additional practices at 10 and 11am with rain forecasted throughout the day. Following the tournament we were able to core aerify during the two week period prior to the NCAA Men's and Women's Lacrosse Regionals. ■ Mowed at a minimum of four times per week at 0.75 inch ■ Blew the fi eld following all games to remove desiccated grass and debris ■ Painted fi eld according to schedule ■ Hand topdressed sand and fi lled divots ■ Maintained goalie creases and areas around the women's lacrosse fan ■ Air Spike once a week ■ Aerifi ed 3⁄4 inch hollow tines at four inch spacing, drag in cores ■ Irrigated to ET ■ Earthworks 5-4-5 @. 5 lbN/1000 ■ Sprayed Harrell's Nitrate Plus @6oz/1000 21-0-0@. 5lbN/1000 MAY With the regular season and conference championships fi nished for the year, UVa was selected to host both the Men's and Women's NCAA Lacrosse Regionals. The women had four, one-hour practices on Thursday followed by two elimination games on Friday. On Saturday there were four practices followed by the nationally televised doubleheader games on Sunday the 10th - which were the fi nal games of the season. Overall, at this point, the fi eld was relatively bare in the goalie crease areas and team areas. Fortunately, because we aerifi ed at the end of April, the fi eld was able to recover from the Women's ACC Lacrosse Tournament in time to host the NCAA Regionals. Following the NCAA Regionals, the fi eld would not have any play until August 15th. With roughly three months to grow in, our goal was to implement an aggressive maintenance strategy to provide much needed compaction relief and initiate root growth. The decision was made to sod the areas extending from the soccer goalie areas to the top of the men's lacrosse creases. By sodding, we were able to level off the goalie creases and allow us to focus on other pressing issues throughout the summer. A signifi cant issue was the aging irrigation heads that had to be raised and replaced with new Hunter I40 opposing nozzle heads to create a more effi cient system. ■ Chemically prayed out ryegrass ■ Deep cored 10" with 1" hollow tines on 6" spacing (picked up cores) ■ Mowed at a maximum four times per week at 5⁄8 inch ■ Topdressed 45 tons USGA sand (broomed in two directions) ■ Sodded 6,829 square feet Patriot bermudagrass ■ Rolled sod ■ Irrigation head replacement ■ Irrigated to ET ■ Sprayed Revolver @. 4oz/1000, Harrell's Nitrate Plus @6oz/1000 21-0-0@1lbN/1000 JUNE After the initial application of Revolver to remove ryegrass, we noticed areas that were missed and sprayed a second application. Once we were confi dent with the maturity of the bermudagrass rhizomes and stolons, we were able to verticut the last week in June. This was done to accelerate the growth and spread rate of the bermudagrass. We were