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WWW.VSTMA.ORG

Virginia SportsTurf Managers Association

1st Quarter - 2011

INSIDE

President’s Letter

2

Winners and Recognition

3

VSTMA Field Day 2011

84

Trafficked Turf Systems

In this issue: STMA Winners and new CSFMs

“Trafficked Turf Systems”

7

Soccer Goal Safety

Hello to all,

I hope that everyone has been able to enjoy some time with family over the winter and is looking forward to the spring season. I am sure that practices and games are already under way for all. To start the New Year, I would

like to announce that June 21st & 22nd will be the dates for our VSTMA Field Day which will be held at Virginia Tech. We are very excited to have such a wonderful venue host this event. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend! Congratulations to the Student Turf Team at Virginia Tech for placing 2nd in the national competition this past January at the STMA national conference in Austin, Texas. This is a great accomplishment and the VSTMA is proud to play a small part in their success. Also, the STMA will be hosting a regional event at the University of Tennessee on June 15th & 16th. This is also promises to be a great event. We will supply more information about this event as we receive it. Finally, the board has approved a $1000.00 donation to the Virginia Turfgrass Foundation for ongoing research. Research by the VTF has been vital to the success of the turf industry and we hope that this donation will help continue this work. I look forward to seeing you all soon!

Best regards,

Vince HendersonTurf ManagerCounty of HenricoRecreation & Parks

From the President: Looking Foward

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Vince HendersonVSTMA President

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Winners and Recognition

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Virginia was once again well represented with national recognition at the 2011 Sports Turf Managers Association Conference in Austin, TX, from Jan. 11-14. The Virginia Tech Turf Bowl team of George Ashmann, Jeremy Atkins, Logan Horne, and Brian Stokes followed up a 2nd place finish in the 2-yr program category for 2010 with a 2nd place finish in the 4-yr student category this year (33 teams participated in the contest). Congratulations to these young men for their dedication in preparing for the contest during the fall semester and then delivering such a fantastic effort at the conference. Special thanks to Nick McKenna (who also was recognized as one of STMA’s most recent Certified Sports Field Managers at the awards ceremony) for coaching the team to such strong finishes for consecutive years. Also receiving recognition for becoming a Certified Sports Field Manger was Adam Dixon.

Marc Moran and his students at Atlee High School in Atlee, VA are no stranger to receiving national recognition for the quality of their fields and this year was no exception as Marc and the AHS team were voted by their peers as the high school soccer field of the year. Vince Henderson of Glen Allen, VA’s RF&P Park won baseball field of the year, high school and parks and recreation division. Congratulations to Marc and Vince on the honors received at the STMA Awards banquet on Friday, January 14.

The VSTMA encourages all of its membership to participate in the annual awards program sponsored by the STMA. Our annual success continues to demonstrate Virginia’s outstanding reputation in providing safe, quality athletic fields for athletes of all ages, sports, and degrees of skill.

Woodward Turf Farms, Inc.

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www.woodwardturf.comwww.sovereignbermudagrass.com

4 www.vstma.org

Trafficked Turf Systems

New Field Construction

Field Renovation

Field Design & Specifications

Laser Grading

Drainage Systems

Synthetic Infill Systems

Synthetic Turf Collars

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Pressures have increased in recent years on sports turf managers to have knowledge of the effects that trafficked turf systems have on turf quality. Limited research has been conducted on these protection systems, providing the turf manager little scientific data to influence man-agement practices and limiting our ability to create administrative guidelines. Special events on turf areas have increased in frequency, dura-tion and size over the years. The uses of tem-porary facilities such as stages, tents, trailers, and staging areas have affected the cultural and visual quality of turfgrasses on which these structures are placed. During covering events, the main stress placed on the turfgrass is light deprivation, thereby preventing adequate pho-tosynthesis. This study that came about due to turf issues on the National Mall is evaluating the effects of 4 different turf protection systems on turf quality at cover removal and at 8 days after cover removal (recovery). Covers are in place from 2 to 20 days with removal at 2-day increments. The analysis of the response of the turfgrass (tall fescue) to the covers will give us seasonal best-fit lines for each turf system in the spring, summer and fall.

Each system/treatment evaluated in this study offered different sunlight and air availability within the tall fescue canopy (Table 1). Both factors play an important role in maintenance of turf quality or health. The summer of 2010 was one of the hottest years on record in the Mid-Atlantic. Data col-lected last summer for the trial showed heat stress severely shortened the number of days

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Trafficked Turf Systemsthat the tall fescue could tolerate being covered. The tall fes-cue had almost no tolerance for being covered by plywood or plywood + Enka in the summer. The added air space provided by the Enka did not contribute to turfgrass persistence. Inter-estingly, highest average temperatures recorded were under the Terratile: however, the turf persisted and recovered the best under this treatment. These data indicate that Terratile’s translucency and air holes, to allow continued light capture and air exchange for adequate photosynthesis, were the primary factors controlling turfgrass persistence. MatraxLD is flat on the bottom and has no air holes. The primary reason MatraxLD performed 13% lower in terms of visual quality to Terratile is most likely due to the reduced amount of air space provided. As a result the Ma-trax Company is working on re-design to have air holes in the cover. Turf quality from fall covering with the protective systems was generally higher than for sum-mer covering. MatraxLD and Terratile never fell below the threshold of 50% quality (50% of the plot showed visual damage) after 20 days of treatment, although Terratile sunk into the turf (when driven over) and left damage due to saturated soil present at the beginning of the fall trial. The MatraxLD cover resisted such “creasing” but did result in a severe matting of the foliage . Compression occurred with MatraxLD but did not result in soil damage. This ef-fect was similar to that seen under the two plywood treatments, but the difference was that the translucency of the MatraxLD still provided some light to the turf (continued photosynthe-sis) resulting in long-term turf recovery as good as with the Terratile, but without soil dam-age.

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Key Summary Points• Temperature under the covers was not associated with turfgrass recovery when com-pared within a season.• However, greater overall temperatures during summer did result in a shortening of the number of days (by 7-14 days) covers can be left on.• Sunlight and air availability play a prima-ry role in maintenance of turfgrass quality when covered in either season.

BERMUDAGRASSBERMUDAGRASS

PATRIOT BERMUDAGRASSTALL FESCUE SOD BLENDS

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Trafficked Turf Systems

MatraxLD

PlywoodPlywood + Enka

Terratile

Summer 8 Days under Cover (No recovery)

7www.vstma.org

Preventing Tragedy from Soccer Goals Recently, I learned of the death of 9 year old Jonathan Nelson in Bentonville Arkansas. Based on media reports I understand that Jonathan was playing with friends during school recess when a soccer goal tipped over on him causing fatal injuries. I don’t know any other details and I will not speculate why this terrible tragedy happened nor is this intended to place blame on anyone. As Professional Sports Turf Managers, student and athlete safety should be at the top of our priority list. This tragedy should cause us to re-evaluate our current safety procedures but especially those procedures and policies regarding portable goals and other portable field equipment.

Many of us are dealing with high school, college and professional athletes who are generally going to use equipment, such as soccer goals, as they are intended to be used. Those of us who are responsible for elementary school facilities and equipment need to be especially aware that elementary age children are un-predictable and have not yet developed common sense that would cause them to stop and think before climbing onto or hanging from a structure such as a portable soccer goal. Most of us were taught the concept of defensive driving as a way to anticipate the actions of other drivers and hopefully prevent the collision from ever happening. As Professional Sports Turf Managers, espe-cially at the elementary school level, we must adapt the defensive driving concept to our field safety programs. We must anticipate the unpredictable actions of children. They are not always going to follow the rules and we cannot expect them to use common sense. It is our job to anticipate their actions and provide them a safe environment whether at recess on the playground or during football practice after school. Whether on multi-purpose fields or soccer specific fields, it makes sense to use portable soccer goals so we can move the goals around the field to spread the wear and tear on the grass. Preventing tipping of the goals should be a top prior-ity. There are many tools and methods commercially available to anchor goals. We have addressed this by using 4 earth auger anchors per goal to keep the goals secured to the ground. We also use chain and a padlock on each anchor so the goals cannot be removed from the anchors and to prevent goal relocation by anyone other than my staff. Occasionally the anchors can work loose especially after freeze/thaw cycles. As the snow melts, we will be relocating the goals again and re-anchoring them to get ready for early spring use. You should make sure that school staff such as teachers, paras, custodians, etc. are aware of the anchoring procedures and encourage them to inspect them daily and report missing or loose anchors.

Additionally, we only use 12 foot wide, all aluminum goals at all of our elementary fields. These goals are very light-weight so if these goals tipped the chances of a serious injury is greatly reduced. There are many different soccer goal manufacturers who provide very lightweight, high quality goals. Remember though, even the lightest goal must be anchored. I know that school budgets have been squeezed to the breaking point. There are many other ways to seek funding for safer goals and for field maintenance needs including school PTA/PTO, local businesses, neighborhood as-sociations, neighborhood garage sales, advertising on school fences, etc. The point is we must use our skills, knowledge and every other available resource to make sure accidents like the one the killed little Jonathan never happen again.

Jody Gill, CSFM, CPSI, Grounds Coordinator, Blue Valley Schools

Prsrt StdU.S. Postage

PAIDBlacksburg, VA

Permit No. 158

VSTMAP.O. Box 11415Blacksburg, VA 24062

The 2011 VSTMA Field Day will be held at Virginia Tech on June 21 and 22, 2011! Topics are still being finalized Anything specific you’d like to see -- let us know. Finalized topics will be announced in an

upcoming flier and on the VSTMA web page as the date approaches. If you haven’t

renewed your membership, now is the time details on the VSTMA web page, STMA

webpage, or by contacting Whitnee Askew: vstma@vstma.org.

We hope to see you at field day and thank you for your continued interest and support

of the VSTMA!

SportsTurf Events Calendar

June 7, VA Research Gold Tournament, 9Wintergreen VA

June 15-16, STMA Regional Field Day, 9Knoxville, TN

June 21-22, VSTMA Field Day, Blacksbrug, VA 9

June 28, Hampton Roads AREC Field Day, 9Virginia Beach, VA

Aug. 30-31, VA Tech Turf Field Day, 9Blacksburg, VA

WWW.VSTMA.ORG

VSTMA Board Of Directors

Vince Henderson, President• Jimmy Rodgers, Vice President• Allison Moyer, Secretary• Kevin Moore, Treasurer• Sam Doak, Information Officer• Dean Whitehead, Past President• Chris Bassett• Rodney Hopkins• Marc Moran• Dave Myers• Jesse Pritchard• Mike Skelton•

VSTMA Professional Position PostingPositions are posted on www.vstma.org/classifieds.php. If you have jobs available or you are looking for a job, please send your information to vstma@vstma.org. We will also post goods for sale or trade by non-vendors.

Executive Assistant, Whitnee Askewvstma@vstma.org ~ 540 231-5312

Mike Goatley, BOD Advisor