Youth-Sports Administration 101: Preventative Field Maintenance
Invite user groups to assist in the quest for pristine facilities
By Jason Schaitz
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. Unfortunately, user groups or organizations often do not have adequate budgets to provide sufficient maintenance to meet or exceed the lifespan of a facility. Regardless of the budget, there are things you can do to help the facilities endure.
Photo: © Can Stock Photo / dropthepress
1. Have a plan. A preventative-maintenance plan is essential in keeping up with facility use. The plan should include all duties and tasks, the time each task takes, the person responsible for the task, and the frequency of each task
2. Prioritize tasks. Maintenance is time-consuming and can be expensive. To prioritize, use the following guideline on which tasks to accomplish first:
Liabilities and hazards: Anytime either of these is identified within a facility it should be addressed immediately. If the task cannot be accomplished in a timely manner, close off the area so no one can get near it.
Mandates: If there is a mandate from the city, county, or more authoritative figure in the organization, attend to those items first to ensure compliance.
Preventative maintenance: After rectifying liabilities and mandates, it is time to return to the plan and maintain the facility on a regular basis.
3. Seek additional training. Most people who use recreation facilities are not field turf and facility experts. Look for training opportunities online or in the local area to gain basic knowledge of properly maintaining a facility.
4. Train user groups and volunteers. If you are the owner/operator of a facility, take it upon yourself to train user groups on basic field maintenance. Attend their board meetings or coaches’ meetings and put material together they can reference when using the fields. For user groups, make sure this information gets to coaches and team managers. Make it a point to address this before each season because if user groups are not trained in keeping up with a facility, they can do more harm than good.
5. Provide the necessary tools. If you are asking volunteers or front-line staff members to assist with maintaining a facility, give them the tools they need to succeed. Make sure coaches, managers, and other volunteers have access to equipment, like rakes, shovels, brooms, drag mats for clay, hand pumps for puddles, drying agent, fill sand, buckets, etc. They don’t need access to any large equipment or machinery, but the basics will go a long way!
Photo: © Can Stock Photo / ca2hill
Here are some other basic maintenance tips:
Stay away from areas of wear during practice. Many times you will notice the same spot wear each season, usually due to the flow of the games and coaches practicing exactly where they play. Encourage coaches to rotate drills during practice to avoid these areas. If you have the ability to rotate fields during the season, consider a schedule to spread out the wear.
Have strict guidelines regarding playing on wet surfaces or during inclement weather. This is the number-one item that will tear up fields. Generally, if more than 5 percent of a field has standing water, it is too wet to play. A good way to test this is, if you are walking and can see your footprint sink in the turf or clay, do not play. Prevent teams from practicing or playing on surfaces that are too saturated.
Have guidelines on maintaining clay infields. For baseball or softball fields, prepare materials for coaches on proper procedures for a clay infield, especially when it’s wet. Pumping out standing water, properly using a drying agent, avoiding raking clay into the grass, dragging a field properly, and maintaining the integrity of the pitcher’s mound will go a long way.
Risk-management procedures should call for field and equipment inspections before every game day. If you or a user group see potholes, make sure to fill them and even use field paint to mark them. Inform all teams playing on the field of those areas. If holes become too large or too deep, avoid playing on the field until they are properly filled.
Removing trash, storing equipment, covering the mounds/home plate, etc. should be done after every game day or practice. With so many people coming in and out of a facility, fields should be closed down properly after every game and practice to avoid wear and tear.
Take field maintenance seriously. Training, educating, and supervising user groups will maintain the longevity of facilities on any budget. Visit www.parksandrecbusiness.com to see a short, animated video on this topic and download the free educational handout. Look for another Youth Sports Administration 101 topic next month.
Jason Schaitz is a Parks and Recreation Director with 15 years’ experience managing youth sports and recreation programs. He also created and manages www.leaguesource.com with the goal of providing free resources for any type of youth-sports program. Take your league to the next level by visiting League Source to check out our League Management App, League Resources, Youth Sports News, and Youth Sports Administration 101 educational series.