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!
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.
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.
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
• 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.
• 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
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?
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?