SportsTurf

November 2016

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.

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FIELD OF THE YEAR FIELD OF THE YEAR Category of Submission: College Sporting Grounds Sports Turf Manager: Shane Hohlbein, CSFM Title: Sports Turf Manager Degree: Bachelor of Science in Turfgrass Science from The Ohio State University Experience: I have had a wide of array of experience in the sports turf industry. During my time at Ohio State I worked for Camargo Country Club and Golden Bear Golf Club doing internships to further enhance my education. After graduation, I joined SMG/Jacksonville Jaguars as the second Assistant Sports Turf Manager for two seasons maintaining the stadium field and three practice fields. I then moved back home with my wife to Cincinnati where I worked for Hamilton County/Cincinnati Bengals for a season maintaining the stadium field, practice fields, and landscaped areas. Wanting to gain more experience, and be more well rounded, I found a job with The Motz Group in Cincinnati. Working for The Motz Group helped me learn the fields from the ground up. I got to work on several aspects of turf construction and maintenance while employed there, including natural/synthetic field construction, as well as natural/ synthetic field maintenance. After leaving The Motz Group I found myself back in the southeastern United States working for Precision Turf LLC, with whom I am still currently employed. I currently oversee our maintenance division in metro Atlanta maintaining over 70 acres of 419 bermudagrass fields (all overseeded with perennial ryegrass) with five other employees and two summer interns. My crew and I also get the pleasure of installing and maintaining temporary soccer fields all over the country, which comes with a whole new set of challenges. These temporary surfaces are put in for international competition and friendly soccer matches at venues in the United States that do not have natural grass surfaces. Full-time staff: Jared Kent, Jason Holland, & Austin Smith Summer interns: Parker McGlone and Daniel Steele Original construction: 2010 Activities field is used for: KSU's inaugural season of football (3 games/1 walk-thru); KSU Soccer (11 games/22 walk-thrus); MLL Championship (1 game/2 walk-thrus); Rugby 7's (22 games); LB3 lacrosse (4 games); Wiz Khalifa concert; Shaky Boots Country Festival (2 days); Owl-O-Ween Festival (2 days); IMG/USA Collegiate Rugby Championships; LB3 commercial shoot; Atlanta Magazine photo shoot; Drumline movie commercial shoot; band practice; and cheerleading practice. Rootzone: 100% sand Turfgrass variety: 419 Bermudagrass Overseed: The field is overseeded in the fall (depending on schedule and weather) with perennial ryegrass at a rate of 15 lbs./1000 sq. ft. We use Land Pride seeders to create good seed-to-soil contact, along with dragging the seed into the canopy and watering lightly throughout the day. Drainage: USGA Profile Sporting Grounds Maintenance: With lacrosse, we have found wear to be a much greater issue in the goal mouth areas than we find in any other sport we manage. Wear is so excessive that after a few games we have to cut sod from our out of play areas to keep the entire surface level and safe for our athletes. We solid tine these high traffic, high wear areas as much as time allows. With the majority of the game happening in the crease areas this is where you get the most foot traffic and compaction. We seed these areas a few days before each match, as well as apply a potassium silicate product to increase rigidity to withstand the constant abuse. Why STMA should consider your field a winner? 5/3 Bank Stadium plays host to a multitude of other world class sporting, and non- sporting events outside of our realm of being a lacrosse venue for The Kennesaw State University Owl's women's team and the future home venue for Major League Lacrosse's Atlanta Blaze. Aside from the challenges provided to us by Mother Nature, we also face a heavy one in the "human element." 5/3 Bank Stadium is also the centerpiece for Kennesaw State University's "Sports and Entertainment Park." In the past 12 months we have hosted events from 60,000 + patrons at a 2-day country music festival, the Southeastern United States largest hot air balloon, and Halloween festival (Owl-O- Ween) (40,000 patrons), KSU's Homecoming Wiz Khalifa concert, International women's rugby tournaments, four LB3 collegiate men's and women's lacrosse events, and IMG/USA Rugby's Collegiate Division 1 and 2 Men's and Women's national Championship, as well as "home" to The Owl's Division 1-AA Football team, and KSU's women's soccer team. That's why it deserves the title of "STMA Sporting Grounds (Collegiate) Field of the Year!" The largest challenge came May 16 with a country music festival (Shaky Boots.) Following a weekend full of Rugby National Championships, 20,000+ sq. ft. of Terratrak fl ooring was put down, and for 8 days a 150-ft crane was parked setting up the main stage. With summer temperatures in the south, 10 days without water, close to 1⁄4 of the fi eld covered in fl ooring and 60,000 country music fans trampling every grass plant, sprinkler head and valve box, stress levels mounted if we were going to meet the next event. A nationally televised, Major League Lacrosse Championship was scheduled the fi rst week of August. Not only did we meet that challenge, but exceeded it to the delight of the Major League Lacrosse league offi ce, and most importantly Kennesaw State University's Sports and Entertainment Park. SportsTurf: What attracted you to a career in sports turf management? Hohlbein: I always knew growing up that I wanted pursue something outdoors, in the elements. Sitting behind a desk in a cubicle was just not going to cut it. I started off in landscape architecture at Ohio State, but quickly learned they offered a degree in Turfgrass Science. Thinking the same thing that many individuals I come across, I asked, "That is really a major?" I did some research and decided this was the career path that I was going to pursue. One of my good friends was working at a private golf club in the Cincinnati area, and mentioned they were hiring grounds crew, so I hopped onboard, and have never looked back. After college is when I transitioned to the sports turf side of the industry by accepting a job with the Jacksonville Jaguars/SMG. This sparked an even greater interest and passion for me in the turf industry. I could not have asked www.stma.org November 2016 | SportsTurf 39

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