President : Nick McKenna , CSFM

Immediate Past President : Jimmy Simpson , CSFM

President-Elect : James Bergdoll , CSFM

Secretary-Treasurer : Sun Roesslein , CSFM

Vice-President Commercial : Jeremy Bohonko

Professional Facilities : Nicole Sherry

Academic : Adam Thoms , Ph . D .

Higher Education : Clark Cox , CSFM

Parks & Recreation : Brad Thedens , CSFM

Schools K-12 : Jeremy Driscoll Commercial : Paula Sliefert

At-Large Elected : Scott Thompson , CSFM

At-Large Appointed : Alpha Jones , CSFM

STMA OFFICE P . O . Box 1673 Lawrence , KS 66044 Phone : 800-323-3875 Email : STMAinfo @ STMA . org www . STMA . org

STMA EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Chair : Brad Thedens , CSFM Technical Editor : Adam Thoms , Ph . D .

Rebecca Auchter , CSFM ; TJ Brewer , CSFM ; Joe Churchill ; Arthur Eddy ; Charles Goode ; Eric Harshman ; John Kmitta ; Cody McKee ; Kelly Rensel , CSFM ; Eric Roberts , CSFM ; David Schwandt ; Chase Straw , Ph . D .

Howdy STMA members ! It ’ s hard to believe that spring is almost over and summer is standing on our doorstep . Part of my role at Texas A & M is overseeing our baseball surface , and , as such , I ’ ve watched a lot of games over the last few months . Perhaps it ’ s how the season has gone for our team , or perhaps it ’ s just how things go in general , but it ’ s hard for me to watch baseball and not think of one word : FAILURE ! The old saying is that baseball is a game of failure , which is absolutely true . A Hall of Fame hitter will only get a hit 3 to 4 times out of every 10 at bats , so , technically , they are failing 60 to 70 percent of the time . It is their ability to get those hits despite previously failing that makes them successful .

Failure has always been a major motivator in my life . When I think back on my time as an athlete ( and life in general ), it ’ s the losses and failures that stick in my mind . It ’ s the losses and failures that drove me to keep working and improving . And it ’ s the losses and failures that taught me the most valuable lessons . As an athlete , I hated to lose as much as , or more than , I enjoyed winning ; and although that served me at times , there were also moments where my fear of failing limited my ability to perform and succeed . The desire not to fail still motivates me on a daily basis and drives me to succeed at everything I do . However , I no longer fear failure or even look at it as something that is always negative . It has taken a lot of reflection and a conscious effort to get to this point , but I truly believe that failure is what ALLOWS us to be great ! Don ’ t get me wrong , I ’ m not advocating for a catastrophic failure that might cost you your job ; but the little failures that force us to analyze and reevaluate what we do and how we do it are a good thing . That ’ s how we learn , that ’ s how we improve , and that ’ s how ( and why ) we become the best at what we do .

John F . Kennedy probably summed it up best when he said , “ Those that dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly .”

As we move into the summer my challenge to you is this — dare to fail ! Dare to apply for Field of the Year , dare to take the CSFM exam , dare to learn or try something new , and dare to be great . SFM

Nick McKenna , CSFM

Nick McKenna , CSFM STMA President nmckenna @ athletics . tamu . edu sportsfieldmanagementonline . com June 2021 | SportsField Management

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