TURF MANAGEMENT IN THE STATES

he Sports Turf Managers' Association (STMA) is a comparatively young organisation. It was founded in 1981 when a group of forward thinking people in the industry felt it was time to start sharing ideas.  

The STMA's mission is to be the leader in the sports turf industry - to enhance, promote and improve professionalism through excellence in communication, training, research, education and services. The STMA's position statement is: Promoting Better and Safer Sports Turf Areas.  

Today's STMA is still an organisation of people and ideas. It provides a network of knowledgeable professionals who willingly share their expertise to answer tough questions and find workable solutions to sports turf problems.  

The Market   
Sports are a big part of American life. Active participation in organized sports starts with children just past the toddler stages. The intensity of workouts and the importance of the competition escalates throughout 13 years of elementary and secondary school. Both good and outstanding players at the college and university level earn their education through scholarships awarded for their athletic performance. Professional athletes negotiate contracts in the millions of dollars, far eclipsing the salaries of top government officials - including the President.  

In addition, men, women and children spend hours each week watching sports action. Entire communities turn out to cheer for the local team, filling the stadia of schools and park and recreation departments. Universities often record sell out crowds for each performance, years at a time. Top teams at the professional level keep adding seats to squeeze in even more fans and televised sports draw huge audiences.  

The Demands   
What does all this mean for the US sports turf manager? Obviously, the pressures have intensified.  

First, with million dollar players and university athletic department budgets at stake, field conditions must be as close to perfection as possible. Then, with the premium athletic fields of university and professional teams constantly on display, the public's recognition of the role the field plays in the game has increased. With this recognition, comes the demand for similar premium conditions for their own athletic activities.  

Added to that is the issue of liability. If an athlete feels that field conditions caused, or contributed to, an injury then the facility, its owners and field maintenance personnel could all be involved in litigation.  

Field use demands are escalating. The US population begins participating in organised sports at an ever younger age with team involvement continuing further into the adult years. Baseball senior leagues and youth tee ball players vie for the same field space. The popularity of soccer continues to expand. The number of players in many metropolitan and suburban areas has doubled or tripled within the last few years.  

Taking Action   
STMA members work to combine the science of growing grass with the art of maintaining turf to produce safe and aesthetically pleasing playing surfaces. The STMA supports these efforts at the national and regional levels.  

Each athletic field presents its own unique challenges. Temperatures across the US range from frigid to tropical, precipitation levels from minimal to heavy, and soil types from heavy clay to porous sand. Two adjacent fields can have slightly different micro-climates and use patterns, requiring some adjustments in maintenance practices.  

STMA members, like grounds keepers everywhere, must operate within budgetary constraints and often are called upon to do more with less. They are always searching for more efficient and more effective ways to do their jobs with existing products and equipment while testing new methods, new products, and new equipment. With other STMA members just a phone call away, they can compare results and share findings.  

STMA professional members and commercial members frequently act as partners in research and testing. Fields and portions of fields in different areas of the country often serve as test sites for products or equipment that are being developed.  

To ensure the needs of all members are met, the STMA's national board of directors consists of a representative of the following membership categories: professional sports turf facility managers; four-year colleges and universities sports turf facility managers; other schools, research, extension agents and teaching personnel; parks and recreational sports turf facilities; and commercial members. Neither students nor international members are formally represented on the board although one of the current board members is from Canada.  

The STMA currently has 10 international members. Their input is welcomed and appreciated and an invitation is extended to others outside the US.  

Services from National   
The STMA's Annual Conference and Exhibition is held in mid-January each year, just before professional football's Super Bowl. The timing ensures that all but two football teams have wrapped up their season and is just prior to the start of spring training for professional baseball. It's the least hectic period for sports turf managers of other facilities in cold-weather regions. It's even workable for most of those in southern climates who have no true off season, but can manage short breaks in their year-long sports activities.  

The conference brings together successful members of the sports turf industry at exciting locations across the country. It combines educational sessions, round-table discussions, and the latest technology on display from commercial vendors. The Seminar on Wheels tours of key regional sports turf facilities are always a highlight. Besides the formal information exchange, there are great networking opportunities during the receptions and other social events.  

The STMA's official monthly publication is 'sportsTURF' magazine. STMA members provide articles and input for the articles in this publication. Articles range from the basic to highly-technical educational pieces covering the details of a facility's turf management program and discussing new products and procedures, most frequently from a member's standpoint.  

The winners of the STMA's Field of the Year program are also featured in the magazine. Awards are issued to the top qualified entrant as judged by a panel of sports turf managers in the professional, university and parks and recreation or municipal categories for baseball, american football, soccer and softball fields. The background of the award winning field and the maintenance program are covered in detail in these articles.  

Each year a group of articles written by STMA members and previously published in sportsTURF and other key green-industry trade publications, is compiled in a compendium called 'Sports Turf Topics'. It contains practical suggestions for better and safer sports turf areas. This handy reference piece is provided to all STMA members.  

The STMA also has a special student membership rate and a scholarship program to encourage those just entering the profession. Several members offer student internships to provide hands-on experience.  

The STMA also provides a bi-monthly newsletter, 'Sports Turf Manager'. Each issue contains at least one technical article and a bit of history of the association. A feature titled 'How Do You Do...' calls on individuals from different membership categories and different areas of the country to address a specific procedure and give step by step details of how they handle it. Both the newsletter and the magazine include sections on pending events for the affiliated chapters and for those chapters working toward affiliation.  

The STMA issues an annual Membership Roster and Resource Manual which lists all members and their contact information. The listings are organised by individual name and by state for professional members and by company and by product category for commercial members. The roster is an important resource in STMA's networking and member interaction. STMA maintains a toll-free phone number to make the information exchange easier and to serve better member needs.  

Members and non-members alike can access STMA's new World Wide Web page at http://www.aip.com/STMA. It contains basic information about the STMA, excerpts from the newsletter and sportsTURF, and information on forthcoming events, including details of the annual conference. The page is updated frequently and new features are added.  

  
Denver's   
Mile High   
Stadium during   
irrigation.  



Affiliated Chapters   
STMA affiliated chapters hold regional meetings and workshops ranging from monthly to quarterly. Events are usually within a reasonable driving distance and generally last no more than one day so that many facilities can send several grounds crew members.  

These events provide educational sessions that focus on specific aspects of sports turf management. For example, presentations may dig into the basics of soil structure, centre on matching fertilisation programs to plant needs through soil and tissue testing, or discuss cultural control practices to counteract a disease organism. Individual sports turf managers might present educational sessions detailing their own actions in field renovation or construction. A panel of members might address their solutions to a common problem, such as the phasing out of overseeded cool-season grasses in warm-season turf.  

Many of the chapters' meetings include a trade show where vendors can show or demonstrate their products and equipment. Prime features of chapter workshops are facility tours and hands-on demonstrations. The group meets at the facility of a member who provides an in-depth behind the scenes tour. Attendees can see what equipment and products are used, note how the irrigation system is designed and controlled, examine the turf in high-use areas, and ask questions about everything from the timing and frequency of procedures to the logistics of field use scheduling.  

Hands-on demonstrations may focus on building a baseball pitcher's mound or grooming the skinned area of the infield; developing distinctive turf patterns through directional mowing; installing "big roll" sod; or painting and lining soccer or football fields.  

Attendees often are welcome to join in these hands-on demonstrations to understand better the elements of the procedure and develop a more thorough feel for it. Although it's possible to describe the proper consistency of the pitcher's mound mixture and degree of tamping it takes to achieve the correct firmness, it's far easier to show those details and allow others to do it themselves. The hands-on approach allows them to feel when the consistency of the mix is too wet or too dry and when the tamped material is too hard or too soft. This sense of proper feel is the art component of sports turf management.  

Promoting Professionalism   
National and chapter meetings and workshops provide a forum for the discussion of successes and failures. While individuals may forget their successes, failures are remembered for a long time. It's human nature to figure out what caused the failure and to learn from it so that it isn't repeated. STMA members are willing to share their successes and failures with others to help further the success of all those in the industry and to raise levels of professionalism.  

Members are encouraged to ask questions of others. There are no dumb questions, only answers not fully understood.  

STMA members are proud of their profession and are working together to improve it and the public's perception of what it entails by setting and maintaining ever higher standards. Every athlete, at every level of competition, deserves the best possible playing surface. That's what they are striving to provide.

Mike Schiller is Superintendent of Parks for the Rolling Meadows Park District of Rolling Meadows, Illinois and president of the national Sports Turf Managers' Association.