ATHLETIC FIELD USE & MAINTENANCE PLANNING

Agronomy

Botany

Experience

Train/Teach

Communicate

Document

Explain

Politics

Authority/Boss

Client

$

Agenda

Create and Manage Expectations

Create and Manage

Expectations

•Establish relationships. If

you don’t spend enough

time in the yellow bubble

you’ll never get back to the

green bubble.

•Have to get buy-in from

the field owners and the

field users whose agendas

may vary vastly.

•The better your

documentation and the

more thorough your

policies, the faster you can

get back to the happy

green bubble!

Tools to

Create and

Manage

Expectations

Teach

Train

Communicate

Document

Explain

Public Document:

General & Comprehensive

• What we have.

• Where it is.

• What we are going to do to it.

• How we will assess it.

Most park and athletic field users are

satisfied just knowing there is a plan.

It implies leadership and organization

which in turn supports the effort to

create and manage expectations.

Assess!

Daily Task Sheets

Tools to

Create and

Manage

Expectations

Teach

Train

Communicate

Document

Explain

Training Tool for

Partner Associations

• Again goes to creating and

managing expectations.

• This manual spells out how

the Township expects

users to treat and maintain

the fields.

• Posted on our website.

Copies in field storage

rooms and concession

stands.

Tools to

Create and

Manage

Expectations

Teach

Train

Communicate

Document

Explain

New For 2012

Season

• Accepted by all Partner

Associations which

account for 95% of field

usage.

• Adopted by Township

Board of Supervisors.

• Middle-of-the-Road:

specific but not overly

penal.

• Probably not great for

fields with high

percentage of public use.

• Changes in association leadership

• Scheduling

• Tournaments, camps, extra events

• Roll out new policies or maintenance plans

• Assess capital needs

• Get involved in the scheduling process

• The most easily avoidable wear that any field gets

• Website updated daily

at 11am.

• Overrule by

associations.

• Onus to close fields

that have deteriorated

since an “open”

posting.

• Moisture meter-

objectivity.

To Lenient?

To Tough?

This is what

Cranberry

Township is

comfortable

with…each

school, park, or

complex will

have a different

level of tolerance

for discipline and

enforcement.

• Northeast Virgina

• Pop. 1,081,000

• 2007 Highest Income

County in America

• Orange County in

Southern California

• Pop. 109,000

• Policy covers 7

days per week

• MUDLINE

communication

tool

• 6:30 am until??

• Offenders pay for

damages

• Seriously tough!

• High level of staff

involvement and

training needed.

• High number of

administrative

tasks involved in

enforcement.

• Pretty expensive

program.

• With strict rules,

number of events

a field can handle

would go up.

What About Your Athletic Field Use Policy?

• General • Mostly public use?

• Mostly Associations with some governing structure?

• Who will coordinate scheduling?

• Enforcement and administrative time and cost?

• Will your community support a strict or penal policy?

• Agronomics • Rest and renovation periods

• Determining open/closed status and communication

• Scheduled maintenance closures

• Preventive measures like field rotation and avoiding wear

areas during practices

Tools to

Create and

Manage

Expectations

Teach

Train

Communicate

Document

Explain

Field Use: How Many Events Can it Handle?

It Depends: Soil, Irrigation, Maintenance, Expectation

How much is too much?

by Dr. Dave Minner

Dept. of Horticulture at Iowa State University

• Keep a record of all field events, not just games. Practice, band,

concerts, ceremonies all count.

• Football causes more injury than soccer, and both sports injure turf

more severely than baseball.

• Using the same field for multiple sports usually leads to very poor

conditions for at least one of the sports.

• The starting point: 100% turf coverage, all plants at least 4 months

old, ½ inch of mat, and excessive moisture is not a problem. Then you

can expect the following of a football field:

• Wear patterns after 10 events

• Thinned turf at 25 events

• Beyond 50 events, anticipate severe loss of turf on at least

20,000 sq. ft. of the field.

October 2011: Field A Lacrosse/Football

after 160 Events

Season Total: 178 Events

What are the expectations? And can I influence them?

September 2011: Baseball Field J at 150 Events

Season Total: 200+ Events

Irrigated turf on a baseball field can handle a very high number of events.

August 2012: Soccer Field F at 105 Events

Season Total: 155 Events

What is the magic number?

Should the Field Use Policy include a maximum number of events per field?

Native Clay Soils

• Compaction

• Infiltration

Punch Holes!

Creative Solutions for

Specific Problems

Determining the Right Amount of Play on Your Fields

• General • How much are they getting used now (hours or events)?

• Is scheduling structured to protect the fields?

• Do you have a Field Use Policy to help prevent damage?

• Finances • Is your budget sufficient to support heavy field traffic?

• Do you have the right equipment?

• Is the labor available to support high traffic fields?

• Agronomics • What are your soils? Native clay based soils need to be

improved to support high levels of play.

• Do you have the ability to irrigate?

Again, Expectations.

Questions?