Articles
Youth-Sports Administration 101: Preventative Field Maintenance
Whether you own and operate sports facilities or have a user-group agreement, you still have the responsibility to ensure those facilities are safe and last the test of time. Maintaining them properly is the key.
Slugging Through Maintenance
As parks administrators—and parents—know all too well, children are plugged into electronic devices and tuned out of “live” action for too many hours in the day. The quintessential childhood experience of running out the back door and spending the day outside has largely disappeared, as have other critical developmental processes: group socialization, physical fitness, competition, and just plain play.
A Refresher Course
In the last 20 years, I have been called countless times to lend advice to an athletic field manager, school custodian, or school board member who wanted a “better” field for the athletes. After a few conversations with similar answers, I realized many people were forgetting the basic steps needed to properly maintain athletic fields.
Field Of Study
The old axiom, “The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence,” might be appropriate for almost any sports field this time of year. With play returning and athletes absolutely determined to make up for lost time, it’s not surprising fields aren’t looking their best.
Condense Line Items
Over the last 3 years, the budget of the Mt. Airy Sports Complex in New Windsor, N.Y., has been significantly reduced while during the same period field usage more than tripled.
Field Maintenance
Perhaps one of the most challenging aspects of maintenance for the average local parks and recreation department is natural-turf sports-field preparation for the spring season.
A Tale Of Two Types Of Turf
Multiple factors should be considered when installing playing fields for parks and sports complexes, and chief among them is whether to install synthetic or natural turf. Each type has
Practice Space
As the city of Lee's Summit, Mo. grew over the years, the youth-sports associations and the parks and recreation department have kept pace.
Rained Out Or Ruined For The Season
ТRain! Rain! Go away! Please come back another day!У Unfortunately, Mother Nature does not always listen, especially in April and May in Ohio.
Playing It Cool
Depending on whom you ask, the shredded Styrene-Butadiene Rubber (SBR) infillСor crumb rubber as it is more commonly knownСtypically used in synthetic-turf athletic fields, is perfectly safe or frighteningly hazardous.
Give ФEm A Break
With more than 240,000 residents, the city's 62 parks, six recreation facilities, and six aquatic centers serve hundreds of thousands of people each year. One area that receives the most impact from this continuous use is the 47 athletic fields.