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/765909
FROM THE SIDELINES EPG Media & Specialty Information 10405 6th Ave. N., Ste 210 Plymouth, MN 55441 The Official Publication Of The Sports Turf Managers Association SALES REPRESENTATIVES Chris Pelikan Senior Account Manager - East Phone: (763) 383-4408 cpelikan@epgmediallc.com Peggy Tupper Senior Account Manager - Midwest Phone: (763) 383-4429 ptupper@epgmediallc.com Leslie Palmer Senior Account Manager - West Phone: (763) 383-4460 lpalmer@epgmediallc.com EDITORIAL Group Publisher: David Voll Editorial Director: Eric Schroder Technical Editor: Dr. Joey Young Art Director: Jean Blackmer Production Manager: Karen Kalinyak SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES Phone: (847) 513-6025 Fax: (763) 383-4497 customerservice@epgmediallc.com REPRINTS Robin Cooper rcooper@epgmediallc.com GROUP PUBLISHER David Voll dvoll@epgmediallc.com DIRECT MAIL LIST SALES MeritDirect, Jim Scova Phone: (914) 368-1012 jscova@MeritDirect.com 6 SportsTurf | January 2017 www.sportsturfonline.com Eric Schroder Editorial Director Eschroder@epgmediallc.com 763-383-4458 L ate last year we conducted a reader survey, a part of which was providing an opportunity for you to give us feedback beyond the standard "choose a response from this list" questions. We appreciated hearing from many of you in this section and I want here to address some of the points that were made. Our goal is continuous improvement, which isn't always that easy (just ask my wife how I'm doing personally with this theory). The most popular topic from respondents was asking us to produce more articles for smaller facilities that don't have large budgets. An example: "I would like to see more on MiLB or parks and rec profiles. I think you go too heavy on MLB and Division I [now FBS] with crazy budgets." I admit it's fun to publish stories about turf managers from well-known teams, e.g., the profile of David Mellor of the Boston Red Sox we ran last September. And I think it's important to publicize how important turf management is to the success of billion dollar franchises. But this point is well taken and I happily point you to "The SportsTurf Interview" subject from last month's issue, Patrick Jonas, CSFM, from the parks & rec department of Charleston, SC. Look for more "regular guy" interviews this year. Along this same vein, another topic mentioned more than once was help working with nominal budgets and staff. "[We] have little or no budget, minimal staff and need creative ways to succeed. We need articles we can [relate to]." STMA Editorial Committee member Joe Churchill recently emailed me with a great idea that might address this: a regular feature that mirrors a section called "Stuff We Love" from The Family Handyman publication. The concept is we would ask readers to send us photos and info on tools that they have built themselves, or ingenious ways they have devised, to solve problems. Any thoughts on how we could best do this would be appreciated, please contact me. Several respondents asked for more articles that would help younger sports turf managers "take steps to grow and become successful in this industry" as one wrote. Professional development is one of STMA's most important missions and one for which we are always looking for content, usually by asking industry veterans to share their wisdom. If you are one of those vets who receive an email from me requesting your advice, on this subject or perhaps on facility management or agronomics, please try and find time to respond. No organization prides itself more on helping fellow members (and non-members) than the STMA. While several folks told us they like the turf research articles that appear under our "Field Science" header, one person wrote, "Stop putting non-peer-reviewed articles in the "Field Science" section. We prefer the more casual approach to sharing this valuable research info with you for two reasons: one, we want you to read the dang article and find out how the findings might help you in your jobs rather than presenting tons of information and footnotes that are interest to only a small minority of readers; and two, our space each month is limited so if a reader wants more info on methodology, etc., he or she can find it online (easily if you're an STMA member with free access to Michigan State's Turfgrass Information File). Please trust that we take all the survey responses seriously and will strive for that continuous improvement. I look forward to seeing you at the Conference in Orlando. READERS SPEAK