What do groundstaff do in after the playing season, whether it’s the end of the cricket season or the end of the winter sports season the groundstaff role continues. In this blog l unpack the reality of the off season and why its vital awareness is brought to the fact that when the season ends for the sports team, the groundstaff work is just starting.
Holidays
The majority of holidays, bank holidays and time owed are often taken outside the main season, but the challenge remains as these periods are also the growing periods for the new grass plant post renovations.
Protecting the Investments made during Renovations!
Clubs have spent thousands on new seed and topdressing, to ensure the investment is sustainable the new grass plant will need continued aftercare. Cutting gently, lowering the height of cut, watering and nutrients and overseeding where seed has failed in an ongoing process through the off season.
If the new grass plant is left to its own devices, it will get long and start to thin out and lose density and will also be under a high risk of disease attack that could wipe out large areas and end up being a poor investment.
Cutting in Winter or the Heat of Summer
Grass can grow up to 10 plus months and year, possibly 12 in a stadium environment, once the sports end the grass continues to grow. For the Winter sports groundsperson summer is key to establishing the new grass plant and root, despite possible heat stress which young grass plants are very vulnerable to. Watering can take up a very large amount of time, especially for those without an automated irrigation system.
Nutrient and Pest and Disease Control of the New Grass Plant
Nutrition in the form of fertilisation is required on a regular basis either via granular or liquid form, or a combination of both. Fertilisation replaces lost nutrients during cutting and must be replaced or weak and poorly rooted plants will occur and as a result poorly performing pitches.
Fertilisation is required along with cutting, so this can be a 10-12 month a year task.
Pest and Diseases- In a world of climate change and the resulting warming of the planet, pest and disease risk now is at its most challenging. The withdrawal of control chemicals for many such challenges, results in more timely cultural methods which can be required 12 months of the year.
Training and Development
The off season is the most probable time a groundsperson will continue any training and development needs. Our industry like many has developed and evolved with new machinery and equipment and the likes of hybrid pitches and many other innovations now commonplace.
Water usage and environmental challenges are also things a groundsperson needs to build up their knowledge of and communicate this back to clubs to ensure the clubs are ready for change.
Machinery Servicing and Procurement
Machinery maintenance is an ongoing process through the season in order to maintain the large procurement costs that have been invested over the years. Many of these machines cost tens of thousands of pounds to replace and often during the off-season machines are either serviced in house or by a specialist mechanical engineer. Such works all need overseeing to ensure the club’s investments are protected into the future.
Planning and Preparation for the Coming Season
Procurements from everyday this like fuel, PPE to the ordering of fertiliser, seed and topdressing is a process of securing the correct product for the makeup of the site, soil and grass plant and its demands.
Purchasing machinery which can be in the thousands per machine, needs a good level of research to ensure a sustainable purchase is made.
Planning for the coming season, in terms of sheeting, tools and equipment all take time and research and a responsible groundsperson often undertakes this in the off season more times than not.
Plus
· Aeration
· Winter/Summer projects
· Leaf clearance
· Strimming and general grass cutting
· Overmarking of winter/summer sports pitches
· Tree pruning
· Health and Safety regulations
· And much more, site/sport specific
I am sure this blog is just the tip of the iceberg and each site is very site specific, the aim of the blog was just to bring some awareness to the fact, that once the season is over the work continues. If you think l have missed anything or could have explained it better, leave a comment in the comments box below.
Brian
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1 comment
A good read 🙂