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/753045
Category of Submission: Professional Soccer Sports Turf Manager: Weston Appelfeller, CSFM Title: Director of Grounds Education: Bachelor of Science from The Ohio State University; fi eld of study, Turfgrass Science Experience: MAPFRE Stadium, Director of Grounds, January 2012 to present; PPL Park/Philadelphia Union, Assistant Groundskeeper, May 2011 to December 2011; Boston Red Sox, Grounds Crew Supervisor, March 2008 to May 2011; MAPFRE Stadium, Director of Grounds, June 2007 to February 2008; MAPFRE Stadium, Assistant Groundskeeper, February 2006 to June 2007. Full-time staff: Weston Appelfeller, CSFM; Ben Jackson, CSFM; Andrew Northeim; Mitch Litz (left in July; and Nick Roe (started September 2015). Part-time staff: Gary Rasor, Brandon Pelletier, Michael Sanders, and Ian Smith Original construction: August 1998 – May 1999 Rootzone: Loamy sand; 85% sand & 15% other Turfgrass variety: Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass Overseed: This year in an effort to help reduce our expenses we have overseeded less. We have overseeded bluegrass in April and September at a rate of 2lbs/1000 sq. ft. We have also overseeded rye at a rate of 3 lbs/ 1,000 sq. ft. once a month between April and October. Drainage: We have a longitudal drainage system. Water fl ows through 4" pipes to the middle of the fi eld and meets the 8" main that carries it from the fi eld. WHY STMA SHOULD CONSIDER YOUR FIELD A WINNER? The more things change, the more they stay the same. It's a very broad statement, but when you think about it, everything is changing all the time. Philosophies, budgets, staff and activities change from year to year, but our fi eld quality has continued to stay consistent. We have experienced several challenges this year. For example, our budget for fi eld products shrunk by $8,000. This has strained our ability to manage our fi eld like the past. Also during the year we have replaced two full time staff members. While promoting growth is a key for any turf manager, losing half our staff is tough. This year has also provided terrible weather. Over the winter, we experienced extremely cold temperatures. Normally in the winter, we have a warm spell that allows us to make a mid-winter snow mold spray. This year the warm-up never came and our snow mold damage was more severe than normal. Columbus experienced on of the fi ve coldest months of February in history. Our fi rst game was March 14. We had a snow storm of 6 inches on March 1. The following day we plowed the fi eld and tarped it using our 16-year- old rain tarps. These tarps had not been used since 2003. The Velcro on the tarps would not hold, so we decided to sew these tarps together using ropes. From March 4 to March 8, I lived at the stadium. Each night I would walk the fi eld at 11 pm, 2 am, and 5 am to make sure the heaters were working and the tarps were holding together. How have we managed to keep the turf in top quality condition with all of these challenges? Our staff is committed to this surface and are committed to becoming better turf mangers. With a nine year old surface our ownership has asked us to preserve the life of this fi eld and we believe we will make it to 15 years. The Field of the Year Awards program is made possible by the support of sponsors Barenbrug USA, Carolina Green Corp., Ewing, Hunter Industries, and World Class Athletic Services. FIELD OF THE YEAR www.stma.org December 2016 | SportsTurf 43