It's been a busy year for the Sports Turf Association. Celebrating its
25th anniversary this year, the Guelph, Ont.-based organization is not
only getting ready for its annual field day—to be held Sept. 20 at The
Soccer Centre in Vaughan, Ont.—but is returning to Moncton, N.B. later
in the fall for a sports turf management and maintenance course it will
present at the Moncton Coliseum.
The STA ventured into Atlantic Canada last year with great success for a field day event aimed at sports turf managers unable to make the trek into Ontario each year. The event was promoted locally by Moncton-based STA director Gorden Horsman and was well attended.
Now, the STA is building new relations with its brethren in Western Canada. It and the Western Canada Turfgrass Association have formed a partnership agreement in which the WCTA will recognize within its membership a sports turf managers group.
Partnering with the STA now allows those WCTA members to have greater access to specialized education, professional development and resources. The WCTA’s sports turf managers group will be able to benefit from reduced membership rates in the STA. The WCTA will also be the conduit for STA membership from both British Columbia and Alberta. Both associations will explore joint educational and professional development opportunities.
“This is a major step forward in uniting sports turf managers across the country and will undoubtedly have a positive effect on everyone in the industry,” said WCTA president Tab Buckner.
STA president Paul Gillen agreed, saying, “The synergy created by this relationship will result in better educational and training opportunities for all associated with the industry.”
Slated to serve as keynote speaker for the Sept. 20 field day is Thomas Serensits, manager of the Pennsylvania State University’s Center for Sports Surface Research. His address will explore both natural and synthetic sports surfaces.
The turf managers’ course in Moncton will be led by Dr. Eric Lyons, associate professor of turfgrass science at the University of Guelph, who will discuss the latest principles and techniques of managing sports turf.
The Sports Turf Association also recently announced the printing of its second edition of the Athletic Field Construction Manual which was originally published in 2008 and was rapidly approaching out-of-print status due to its popularity.
Author Dr. Robert Sheard said, “Rather than simply reprinting, we took advantage of the opportunity to make subtle revisions to this edition.”
Those changes include improved readability within the opening pages and more adequately-defined classifications based on root zone material for categories three and four as well as the tolerances for grade control and depth of the stone layer and root zone material.
For more information about obtaining a copy of the manual as well as information regarding the upcoming field day in Vaughan and sports turf management course in Moncton, visit http://www.sportsturfassociation.com.
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