Jim Puhalla of Boardman, Ohio, is a Sports Field Consultant who provides design, consulting, and construction supervision. His knowledge of sports field management came through hands-on experiences as a landscape and sports field design/build contractor. He owned and operated a company that specialized in sports field design, construction, and maintenance from 1990 through 2012, and a landscape company from 1977 through 2003. Although he retired from sports field construction and maintenance in 2013, he still enjoys sharing his experiences with others who have similar goals in creating safe, more useable sports facilities.

Jeff Krans is a former Professor of Agronomy at Mississippi State University in the Golf and Sports Turf Management program. He received his PhD from Michigan State University in 1975, an MS degree from the University of Arizona in 1973, and his BS degree from the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point in 1970. Jeff taught and advised students in the Golf and Sports Turf Management program, and conducted research in turfgrass breeding and physiology from 1975 to 2002. Jeff remains an avid supporter of high-quality natural turf for safe sports for participants and spectators.

Mike Goatley is Professor and Extension Turfgrass Specialist in the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences at Virginia Tech. Mike received his PhD from Virginia Tech in 1988, his MS degree from the University of Kentucky in 1986, and his BS degree from the University of Kentucky in 1983. He taught and advised students in the Golf and Sports Turf Management program at Mississippi State from 1988 to 2003 before moving to Virginia Tech. Mike serves as the outreach coordinator for agronomic turf sciences in Virginia, and his research interests focus on turf selection and management strategies that promote environmental stewardship. He served as president of STMA in 2012 and 2013 and received STMA's William H. Daniel Founder's Award in 2008 and Harry C. Gill Founder's Award in 2016.

STMA is the not-for-profit professional association for the men and women who manage sports fields. Since 1981, the association and its 30-plus local chapters have been providing education, information, and sharing practical knowledge in the art and science of sports field management. Its more than 2,500 members oversee sports fields and facilities at schools, colleges and universities, parks and recreational facilities, and professional sports stadiums. The membership's goal is to manage natural turf and synthetic surfaces to produce safe and aesthetically pleasing playing surfaces for athletes at all levels of playing abilities. STMA also has the support of commercial members that furthers the industry through continuous advancements in technology.

The STMA Mission:

To be the recognized leader in strengthening the sports turf industry and enhancing members' competence and acknowledgement of their professionalism.

Like so many aspects of contemporary life, our athletic and leisure pursuits are becoming increasingly influenced by economic and logistical factors. Construction and maintenance budgets are squeezed ever more tightly. The explosion in athletic opportunities for girls and women has doubled the use of some facilities, and sent planners scurrying off to build thousands of new ones. The popularity of personal injury lawsuits has forced insurance premiums higher and led insurers to insist on greater uniformity in the design and construction of sports facilities.

All of these factors have their impact on the construction and maintenance of sports fields. Tighter budgets mean less money for after-the-fact repairs and greater insistence on building it right the first time. Increased pressure on the facilities means that unplayable fields create twice as many rescheduling headaches as they used to. The threat of lawsuits demands greater attention to the safety of the facility itself.

THE PURPOSE OF THIS BOOK

This book is designed to provide a comprehensive technical reference source for those who are responsible for the design, construction, renovation, or maintenance of sports fields. In order to address these issues, the chapters that follow will illustrate specific design elements of all popular sports facilities and explain how those elements are integrated in a successful project; explore commonly encountered sports field problems and suggest appropriate solutions; and provide practical guidance for continuing maintenance programs.

While soil and climate variations will sometimes create unique local challenges for those charged with building or maintaining sports facilities, the principles shared on these pages should provide a basic plan of action and a set of practical design criteria usable throughout North America and in similar geographies throughout the world.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions of many academic and professional leaders whose advice and counsel have contributed to the completion of this book.

We are appreciative for the detailed advice of the following academic colleagues: Dr. Donald Waddington of Pennsylvania State University, Andrew McNitt of Pennsylvania State University, and Dr. Coleman Ward (deceased, Professor Emeritus) of Auburn University. In particular we acknowledge Dr. McNitt for the development of Chapter 19, “Sand-Based Rootzones.”

Thanks to Dr. Victor Maddox, Wayne Philley, and Dr. Maria Tomaso-Peterson, all of Mississippi State University, for providing photographs, information, and manuscript reviews. Thanks to Virginia Tech faculty Dr. Shawn Askew, Dr. David McCall, and Dr. Tom Kuhar for manuscript review specific to the latest in pest management strategies and tools, and thanks to many university and industry colleagues for providing multiple photographs cited throughout this book. Thanks to Bart Prather of Mississippi State University, Tra Dubois of World Class Athletic Surfaces for advice on painting athletic fields, and to the team at Carolina Green Inc. for their assistance with Chapter 17, “Synthetic Turf.”

Thanks also to the many sports organizations and sanctioning bodies for sharing their specifications and field construction information, which have helped to make this volume comprehensive. These organizations are listed individually at the ends of their respective chapters.

Sports turf fields and related facilities are designed to meet two basic requirements: they must be large enough and/or the necessary shape to allow the particular sport to be played according to its recognized rules and regulations, and they must have a surface that allows the players to compete safely and at a reasonable level of competition. Because many sports turf surfaces are also used for nonsports activities (like band practice), the surface must be durable enough to withstand the stresses associated with those nonsports functions.

As any sports fan will agree, player performance depends in large part on the quality of the turf surface. But a fields manager must also keep in mind that safety, as well as performance, is dependent on turf quality. Each of these important considerations is dependent on three turf characteristics: traction, hardness, and evenness.

Traction is obviously critical to generating and controlling speed, making sharp changes in direction, and stopping. In addition to reducing a player's ability to avoid or (in the case of contact sports) to control collisions, poor traction can lead to muscle pulls and a variety of other common injuries.

Hardness can allow players to perform at maximum speed, but can also affect players' ability to cut sharply and increase injury from falls and tackles.

Evenness, along with hardness, is a major factor affecting ball response, which includes the height and direction of bounce, as well as the trueness and speed of roll. In many turf sports—and perhaps in most—predictable ball response is necessary to support the desired level of competition.

Just as good teams are created by careful attention to detail, good turf comes from practicing effective turfgrass cultural and management strategies. In the following chapters we will consider the underlying principles of turfgrass biology, selection, and establishment; soil science, including fertility and fertilizers; cultivation and thatch management; organic field management; irrigation and drainage; pesticide use and safety; turfgrass stresses; and even proper mowing techniques.

Whether reading sections of the text as a class assignment or flipping it open to address a particular sports turf concern, the reader will find that our advice is first to seek the health of the turf and its enfolding culture, and all the rest (playability, economy, aesthetics) will be added onto it. Manage the culture correctly, and pest problems will be minimized.