FIELD OF THE YEAR SCHOOLS AND PARKS SOCCER
It is a challenge to maintain our stadium field at the level expected while also maintaining 150 acres of park and additional athletic fields . This year has been the busiest I have been a part of for our stadium . We hosted 178 hours of usage , which was 60 more than the previous year . These events and practices included a variety of sports such as soccer , lacrosse and rugby , as well as a field day . Our highlight of usage was hosting Charlotte FC for three months of practices while their practice facility was being built . Hosting an MLS team in its first year was an awesome experience , because we wanted to provide as close to a professional surface as possible with only a parks and rec budget and equipment . Each event had different prep and clean-up . One thing I have learned is that no matter the challenge , my team always steps up to the plate and gets things done at a very efficient and high level . This year provided us with many more hours of mowing , painting and preparation than usual due to the increase in usage . I challenged my guys with a couple of projects that we wanted to complete , but a major one was adjusting all of our field proper irrigation heads . We were getting complaints about them being too low and possibly a tripping hazard — plus we didn ’ t have full coverage at times — so we decided to raise and replace all 28 field proper heads . We also strived to improve our cultural practices and take our turf quality to a professional level . This included justifying and adding an additional full-time position , a maintenance and operations turf specialist , to assist in the day-to-day operations and evolve our turfgrass capabilities and knowledge at the Sportsplex . We were able to fully aerify the entire surface three times this year and topdress twice . We are still trying to become more environmentally friendly by limiting our herbicide applications , as well as our total nitrogen rate for the year . This has been my goal for the past few years , and I would like to keep lowering that rate . We also went back onto our plant growth regulator program to limit mowing and provide a tighter , higher-quality turf since we are limited to using only rotary mowers .
– Jonathan Waszak , maintenance and operations supervisor sportsfieldmanagementonline . com August 2023 | SportsField Management
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