Sports Turf Industry Outlook for 2014

Recently I was asked about my thoughts on the outlook for the sports turf industry as we move into 2014.  Here is a link to a publication of my view along with some of my industry colleagues.  http://www.sportsfieldmanagementmagazine.com/article-10294.aspx?fb_action_ids=10203009206938253&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%5B396789873800201%5D&action_type_map=%5B%22og.likes%22%5D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D

2013 Season Review

It has been several months since my last post, we had such a busy season!  I do try to keep up somewhat with social media.  I can be found on twitter @ESPTurfGuy I occasionally post photos and updates regarding Sports Park maintenance.  Since things have slowed down here, our last event ended December 1 and the weather is turned bad, we have had a opportunity to run some numbers from the past season. 

For the 2013 season, we hosted roughly 24 baseball/softball tournaments, which were mostly 2-4 day weekend events with a couple 6 day weeklong tournaments.  Soccer is a bit different, we hosted roughly18 events on our sports fields, including a lacrosse event and a cross country meet.  We also hosted 218 local youth league games (baseball, t-ball, soccer, & football). 

The baseball/softball season runs March thru October.  We hosted  in the range of 3000-3500 games total on our ball diamonds.  This averages out to 250-300 games played/field.  Soccer season runs March thru November, we averaged around 200 games/events on those fields. 

Here are numbers for related materials used for the season:

• 560 bags or 14 tons of Mound/batters box clay
• 34 tons of vitrified clay field conditioner
• 200 bags or 5 tons of calcined clay field conditioner;  mainly for field drying
• 420 bags or 10.5 tons of chalk for line marking

Additionally we used:

• 230 gallons of field paint
• 182 cans of aerosol paint
• 44 tons of sand topdressing material on all fields

For our concessions operations we sold:

• 24,632 Hot Dogs/Sausages
• 23,688 Ice Cream
• 97,066 Total Drinks
•  41,527 bottles  of Gatorade and Water
• 10,799 cups of Pepsi (top fountain drink seller) 
• 1,358 Pickles
• 4,833 Snicker Bars
• 9,432 Boxes of popcorn

Operationally we used an equivalent of 216 miles of toilet paper and generated nearly 4 million pounds of garbage.  The Park employed close to 100 seasonal employees on top of the 11 fulltime staff members. 

 

After the heavy field use of this past season, we saw some areas where we needed to address on our ball diamonds.  Here are some photos of some infield skin renovations we did in the fall.  We widened some running lanes, changed a few position cutouts, sodded some spots, made home plate area larger, added walkways to 2 fields, laser graded 4 infields and add infield mix to a number of basepaths.  Just to name a few! 

 

 Post sod cutting and aerification #10

 Striped sod & regarded # 9 to eliminate ponding at back of infield skin

 Added mix and laser graded

 Re-sodded the striped area in the outfield

New look to #10 

 Guys hard at it!  They did an awesome job this year! Thank you!

 

Yesterday, ugh...

 

 

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 

April Update!

We have been pretty busy here at the Sports Park, not only have we had every weekend booked with tournament play this month but we have also began local league baseball as well.  Here are several photos taken over the course of the month of all things Sports Park related.  Please come out and see us when you can!  Ready, Set, Play!

IPhone Panoramic 4/20/13 - Fields 8, 6, 1, 3 ( L to R)

 

April Fun!

 

Mound Renovation

 

Adding conditioner to infields

 

 

Irrigation System Charge



 

Fun things you find when charging the irrigation system!

 

 

While searching for our irrigation leak, we found these awesome roots!  Over 12" long (sorry, I can't figure out why this photo is turned sideways)





Spring Turf Stuff! 

An area on a field with thin turf on 4/2

 

 

Same area after some good weather and foliar fertilizer applications on 4/19

 

Mowing pattern fun!

More mowing pattern fun!

 

 

Entrance 4/16/13

Serviceberries in bloom 4/16
 

Bermudagrass shoot on 4/16

Bermudagrass greening two days later 4/18

 

Baseball Action Shots!

 

 

 

 

Wet traffic on athletic fields

With the weather this past week, we have close to 1 inch of precipitation at the Sports Park.  Due the fields being saturated we have had to cancel the soccer event that was scheduled.  In these cases we have to cancel events to protect not only the fields but the participants as well.  Wet and sloppy field conditions are a safety hazard.  Also we must prevent potential future safety issues by protecting our fields now.  Playing on wet field conditions is one of the worst things you can do to a field.  It only takes one game on a wet field to completely destroy a field!  Not only does traffic on a wet field disturb the grass but more importantly it effects the soil and its properties. Here a a few recent articles and university publications that address field traffic and related wet soils.
In the article, Wetness and wealth key foes of native soil fields  March 2009 SportsTurf Magazine.  Dr. AJ Powell states,  Traffic on wet soil displaces the soil, destroys the soil structure and creates little birdbaths in the field,” Powell says.
Additional University articles related to Sports Turf traffic and wet soils...

SPORTS TURF TRAFFIC- - HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH? - -
Turf 101: Why turfgrasses hate wet soils

Pre-season Prep

Well here we are, 4 days until the beginning of the 2013 season at Elizabethtown Sports Park.  We continue to struggle with getting tasks accomplished in our constantly fluctuating weather conditions.  However we have taken full advantage of the good days and slugged through the bad.  By we I mean of course, the Crew,  they have done a great job getting things done here in the last several weeks.  I have recently added additional seasonal crew members and they are eager to work and learn!

Here a couple photos of some of the field specific work we have been able to accomplish...

We rolled all of the infields to help compact them again after all of the freezing and thawing.  Rolling also helps  "seal off" the surface to force water to run off and not soak into the mix...

A few days later we were able to lightly scarify drag the infields to open up the top 1/2" or so.  We let the infields sit open for a few hours to dry in the sun and wind.  We then went over them with a roller to seal off the surface again.

I took this photo a few days later after a morning shower to show that my footprints barely disturbed the surface.  I sank down into the mix maybe 1/4"-1/2"

For the first tournament of the season we are hosting a large soccer event which will use all of our sports fields, including the dormant bermudagrass.  Playing on dormant bermudagrass is a normal occurance across the Southern States.  We found that striping the fields with blue paint really stands out on the dormant bermudagrass.  

Another look at the blue paint striping on the dormant bermudagrass...

Portable Heater to Dry a Mound?

When the weather has been favorable, we've been building some bullpen mounds on our larger ball diamonds.  Unfortunately the 3rd base bullpen on Field 9 is in a spot where the field drains to an stays pretty wet.  Because of the wet winter weather that we have here in Central Kentucky, it's been extra challenging for us to finish.  The mound clay just soaks up all the ground water and will not harden to be able to build up.  So we were brainstorming one day and came up with the idea of using a portable heater to dry out the clay enough to finish the mound we started.  We used some old pallets and created a box around the mound and used a tarp to create a tent over it.  We then placed a 350,000 BTU heater on one end and let it run for about 5-6 hours.  

We left an opening in the back to vent and let moisture escape the  "tent"

The following day was sunny and warm (55 degrees).  We were able to finish up before we received another winter rainfall.  It was still a bit soft down the landing area but overall it compacted good.  

Fall Seeding Progress

Happy New Year!  I just wanted to show a couple photos of some progression on some fall seeding we did on a couple of the ball diamonds.  Four of the ball diamonds were originally seeded with a turf-type tall fescue and Kentucky bluegrass seed blend back in late fall 2011.  Ideally in this part of the country you can start seeding around the beginning of September or earlier depending on the weather at the time.  Those four fields were originally seeded the last week of October in to the first week of November.  That is about the end of your window of opportunity for good germination and establishment in this area.  The beginning of November usually brings the heavy frosts and sometime sub freezing night temperatures but that of course varies year to year in Central Kentucky.  You can continue to seed past this point but may or may not see any germination right away.
This past fall, 2012, we hosted baseball event well into October but we were able to start inter-seeding into the existing turf in late September / early October.  We also plan to go back and hit some bare spots in mid- February to have the seed in the ground for when temperatures rise.  Here are some before and after photos of the progression.

Field #9  - October 5, 2012

Field #9 - January 8, 2013 

Field #12 - October 3, 2012
 ( We just ran the aerifier through this area and because of extreme compaction and overzealous of the sports turf manager it looked like it was tilled up!)

Field #12 - January 8, 2013

As you can see, we still have some grow-in to do but with the warmer weather set for this week, we continue to fill in and should be good to go opening day!