PROFILE
North Area Athletic Complex football field
Roesslein then heard about the STMA ( now SFMA ) and sent herself to San Antonio for her first conference .
“ Some of the people who reached out to me early on made it such a welcoming group ,” she said . “ I figured out very early on that this was the career path I wanted to take . I finished my master ’ s , but decided to change my career path .”
She added that what drew her to the industry was the combination of the hands-on experience , being outdoors , the science involved with the profession , and the problem-solving aspects of the job .
LIFE AT THE NAAC Now , Roesslein and Clay co-manage the NAAC , a 14-acre facility that features a football stadium and soccer stadium , hosting football and boys soccer in the fall , and girls soccer and boys and girls lacrosse in the spring . Other than some occasional seasonal help , Roesslein and Clay are a crew of two .
“ We manage everything from the turfgrass management , field layout , painting , putting goals together , stadium cleanup , field setup for games , and then we switch hats in the evening and we are event managers ,” said Roesslein . “ We manage the staffing , making sure we have ticket sellers / takers , announcers , people to run the clock , etc . Our jobs are kind of two-inone during our sports seasons .”
Roesslein said she enjoys the multifaceted aspect of the job and the variety it brings .
“ Even though we get into a pattern within each season , it ’ s never boring or repetitive . I like interacting with the folks who are our game workers ,” she said . “ Most of them have been doing it for as long as I have
Sun Roesslein , CSFM , ( right ) at the 2022 Colorado State Track meet with Christi Clay , CSFM .
been here – if not longer ( I have been here 17 years – it will be 18 in April ). We have people who are like family . That really is special to me .”
According to Roesslein , her skill sets mesh well with Clay ’ s . “ There are a lot of times where I need to aerate the football field and she does whatever else needs to be done ,” said Roesslein . “ She does not like to aerate or be on a tractor for hours , and I don ’ t mind it . She would rather do a bunch of other tasks than something that makes her sit on a tractor for too long . When it comes to painting the football field , she runs string lines and I push the paint machine . She often paints the soccer field by herself , while I ’ m doing some other task . We have it worked out over the years as to our strengths compared to what needs to get done . We also have to pick up trash and clean restrooms from the event the night before , so we usually start with that stuff to get it out of the way , and then get going on whatever needs to be done for the day or to set us up for the week .”
Roesslein said she and Clay don ’ t handle the scheduling for any of the sports except for football .
“ For football we have a big scheduling meeting with the athletic directors , football coaches and stadium managers because there are so many schools and sportsfieldmanagementonline . com February 2023 | SportsField Management
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