Officers

President : Sun Roesslein , CSFM

Immediate Past President : James Bergdoll , CSFM , CPRP

President Elect : Nick McKenna , CSFM

Secretary-Treasurer : Adam Thoms , Ph . D .

Vice President Commercial : Paula Sliefert

Directors

Academic : Chase Straw , Ph . D .

At-Large ( elected ): Ryan DeMay , CSFM

At-Large ( appointed ): Zachary Holm , CSFM

Commercial : Erin Boyd Wilder

Higher Education : Jason DeMink , CSFM

Parks and Recreation : Jason Bowers , CSFM

Professional Facilities : Alpha Jones , CSFM

Schools K-12 : Jeremy Driscoll , CSFM

SFMA OFFICE P . O . Box 1673 Lawrence , KS 66044 Phone : 800-323-3875 Email : SFMAInfo @ SportsFieldManagement . org www . sportsfieldmanagement . org

SFMA EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Chair : Brad Thedens , CSFM Board Liaison : Chase Straw , Ph . D . Members : Matthew Arms , CSFM ; Philip Braselton ; TJ Brewer , CSFM ; Joe Churchill ; Forrest Jammer ; John Kmitta ; and David Schwandt .

Happy 2024 ! A new year is exciting because there is so much energy around the possibilities being wide open to change anything in the upcoming months .

New Year ’ s resolutions are written on Post-it notes , gyms are crowded and commitments to overall better habits are made . Some are big goals , some are small changes , but either way growth is imminent .

Every year , I get a new weekly calendar to track my work and try to keep myself organized . For the past couple years , I ’ ve used one that is part calendar , part journal and part goals / growth tracker . The planner encourages me to reflect on each previous month and recognize the steps I ’ ve taken toward my goals . Every week also has a quote or saying to ponder . One recent bit of wisdom was “ Be not afraid of growing slowly , be afraid of standing still .” — Chinese proverb .

What is your growth-focused goal for the new year ? No matter the magnitude of your intention , the key to being successful is breaking the main goal down into smaller steps to make the goal achievable . From the association ’ s standpoint , there was a lot of work completed during the past year ; taking the smaller steps necessary to be able to provide more resources to you .

This month ’ s big step in helping you meet your 2024 goals is the 35th Annual SFMA Conference and Exhibition , January 22-25 , in

Daytona Beach , Fla . There you will learn from industry leaders , problem solve with peers , ask questions of suppliers and meet other field experts . If you take a handful of new ideas back to implement at your facility , that is a great start toward meeting your professional field management goals . Listening to experts discuss their approaches , thought processes and ideas is always inspiring . Every year I ’ m motivated to figure out how I can adapt those ideas to help make our playing fields a little stronger for our athletes . Reconnecting with friends , meeting new people and celebrating the previous year ’ s successes are also energizing for the year ahead .

Speaking of making things a little better each year , I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to

the SFMA staff , Leah Craig , Nora Dunnaway , Jennifer McLendon and Whitney Webber . Thank you for continuing to work your rock star magic behind the scenes , supporting our members . Laura Simmons , the first year with you as our CEO has been full of opportunities , thank you for guiding us through the small steps toward big goals .

Here ’ s to a wildly successful 2024 ! See you in Daytona Beach ! SFM

Sun Roesslein , CSFM

Sun Roesslein , CSFM SFMA President Sun . Roesslein @ jeffco . k12 . co . us sportsfieldmanagementonline . com January 2024 | SportsField Management

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