Newspaper Page Text
6-B
The Summerville News, Thursday, September 4, 1986
WORK DONE BY COACHES
Much Work Goes Into
Care Of Area Fields
By KAY ABBOTT
Staff Writer
It's a job that goes unnotic
ed unless it's left undone, but
careful grooming of the coun
ty's two varsity%ootball fields
is serious business to local
coaches who are responsible for
year-round maintenance. Not
only does a well-kept field help
reduce player ingluries, but it is
an important reflection of com
munit{ pride and school spirit.
Ask Coach Buddy Windle
of Chattooga High gchool or
Coach Tommy Sosebee of
Trion High about their fields
and they will talk as fluently
about nitrogen, aeration, sprig
ging and watering techniques
as they do about fooa)all
strategies. o
“A lot of people think you
just mow the field once be%re
the first game of the season
and that's it,” said Windle,"
but there's a lot more to it than
that.”
SPRINGTIME
Care of the fields begins
each May when the stadium
fields are fertilized and resown
if needed. The big job comes as
the coaches struggle to keep
the fields mowed throughout
the remainder of the year.
“It takes a lot of time to do
the job right,” Windle said.
““We mow the entire field in a
circular fiattem and then mow
it straight across.
“During the summer, I had
two student workers to help
with the mowing. It took the
two of them eight hours to do
the field correctly, and it has to
be mowed three times a week.
Now that summer's over, I'm
mowing the field.
“You have to stay on it,
because when it grows up to
three or four inches you have
to rake and haul. It is matted
together so tightly we try to
keep it no higher than one
inch.”
Both the Chattooga and
Trion fields are sown in Tift
Bermuda grass, a tough and
dense hybrid.
According to Windle, condi
tion of the field can either
lessen or increase the chance of
injury to football players.
INJURIES
“The shorter and denser
ou keep the slayinfi field the
f\;etter," Windle said. “'lf the
grass gets much higher than an
inch, there is a Kossibility
layers could get their cleats
Eung in the turf. If you get hit
from the side and your foot
can't slide on the grass, the
knee will take the force of the
blow, resulting in injuries.”
“For that reason, the
regulation height of football
cleats has also%een shortened
in recent years.”
Coach Sosebee added that a
soft playing field can also help
reduce the number of playing
injuries.
“We keep the playing field
aerated witg tiny holes,” he
said. “Not only does it help the
grass absorb water, but it
makes the ground softer. More
injuries are common on hard
playing surfaces such as
Astroturf.”
In addition, the coaches are
responsible for keeping the
grounds of the entire stadium
area, the buildings, equipment
and bleachers in good shape.
“We spend a lot of time
painting and repairing equip
ment during the summer
months,” Windle said, “You
may not have a lot of money to
Saturday, Sept. 6
At the Hutchins’ Farms
in Chelsea
5 Per Person
SPONSORED BY THE
CHATTOOGA COUNTY YOUNG FARMERS
Hamburgers, Hot Dogs & Cokes
Will Be Sold At The Hunt
spend, but you can make the
best of what you have by clean
ing, painting and repairing."
ENTHUSIASM
“The condition of your
stadium and especially of your
facilities for the visiting fans
and players is a reflection on
fiour community. It makes a
ig difference for the kids’ en
thusiasm in school too.”
Windle is especially proud
of recent improvements fund
ed by the Chattooga Board of
Education and by the county
Athletic Boosters.
“The secret to keeping the
field up is having good equip
ment,”” Windle said. *Until this
July, we had an old lawn
mower. ‘We'd just get the field
in good shape, and the thin
would tear up on us. The boarg
of education bought us a new
18 horsepower riding mower
with a 52-inch cutting surface
which has helped tremendous
ly. They also replaced 56
stadium fights whicg had burn
ed out.”
Cost of the lighting project
was $1,200. The new mower
cost $3,000. Windle noted that
tax money cannot be used to
fund athf;tic equipment or
uniforms.
“The Athletic Boosters
have helped us out tremendou
ly,” Windle said. ‘‘They have
just purchased 35 new regula
tion football helmets for our
Lunior varsity team. The
elmets cost SIOO each.”
PRACTICE FIELD
Windle said that the de;)art‘
ment’s big need now is for a
practice field to reduce the
wear and tear on the stadium
field.
“We have practice after
school all week t}(,)r the football
teams. The band and the
recreation teams also must use
the field each week for practice
and during the actual games."
Accord%.ng to Windle, the ci
ty of Summerville had been
working with the school
system to build a new practice
field, but the dry weatier kill- |
ed the irass that was sown
during the spring.
Windle said a new watering
system would reduce the |
amount of time needed to |
maintain the stadium field each |
week. l
“Right now we have a bor
rowed sprinkling system that
a local farmer has I‘;aned us,”
Windle said. ‘*“We have to move
it around to cover different
areas of the field, which is very
time-consuming.”
““We need to put am
monium nitrate on the field
now to make it green, but
without a good watering
system it is difficult to do so.
The grass has to be watered
thoroughly after the am
monium nitrate is added or it
will turn it white instead of
green. It's hard to tell if you've
missed a spot when you have
to move the sprinklers around
so many times."”
WATERED
Windle said that the city
had been helpful to the pro
gram by allowing them to keep
the grass adequately watered
through out the summer.
Due to water restrictions in ‘
Trion during the driest part of |
the summer, Coach Sosebee |
was unable to water his field
for almost three weeks.
“The grass came out real
well,” Sosebee said. ‘‘One of
our problems is that our water
ing system is outdated. We
have to move it around and it
takes all day to cover the field.
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New Equipment Aids Field Upkeep
Chattooga football coach Buddy Windle
is proud of a new lawnmower recently pur
chased for the high school athletic depart
ment. ‘‘The secret to keeping the fief()i u
is having good equipment,” Windle saicf
“It takes a lot of time to do the job right.”
The newer systems are more ef
ficient and actually conserve
water.”
Mowing also requires a
large investment of time.
“It gets into a lot of time,"”
Sosebee said. ““To keep the field
up and do it right is more than
one man can do. All the
coaches help out and they do a
real good job."”
Trion High'’s athletic
department has a golf course
type mower to keep the field
groomed to one inch in height.
It takes 30 minutes to an
hour to cut the field, and then
another hour or more to sweep
and get the clippings off.
CLUBS HELP
“The community and the
50-Yard Club help a lot,”
Sosebee said. ‘This year they
helped us build new goal posts.
They would have cost $1,500
for the set if we had bought
them, but the labor and
materials were donated. We
probably have no more than
$250 in it.”
The club has also helped
create the wooden stencils &at
are used to paint numbers on
the field. They are helfi)ing to
purchase a Srofessiona set of
metal stencils to letter the end
zones. Two bulldogs will also
be stenciled onto tghe playing
surface.
Although there is no state
regulation for the height of the
grass playing surface or type of
grass, there are strict re
%firements for measuring off
the boundaries and yard lines.
Sosebee prefers ‘‘burning
off” his lines with diesel fuel
before the season begins and
then painting them be%ore each
game. ‘‘We probably spend
SI,OOO on paint during the
season,’’ Sosebee said.
The field is carefully
sprayed with the fuel through
stencils and between strings
stretched across the field from
yard line to yard line. Although
the fuel is never ignited, it
turns the grass brown
overnight
PAINTING
““We don’t put marble dust
down anymore,”” Sosebee said.
“Over the years, it makes lit
tle mounds on the yard lines.
Painting gives a more profes
sional appearance.”’
This year Sosebee and other
Trion coaches have spent extra
time adding the finishing
touches to the field layout.
"It took three days just to
burn off the lines,”” Sosebee
said. ‘“We spent an extra day
burning off the hash marks
between the yard lines. We will
also burn off the big numbers
between the lines and later we
will burn off the big bulldogs
and spell out the team name as
soon as we get the new stencils.
Just before each game, we
paint off the lines with stencils
and spray cans.”
The Chattooga Athletic
Department also uses paint to
mark its yard lines. Measuring
off the four corners of the field
is a job coach Windle does not
look forward to each season.
““The field has been laid out
by several different people over
the years,”” Windle said. ‘‘One
corner of the field has markers
in three different places. If you
don't get the corners right
before you paint the lines, the
whole f}i'eld will be off.”
Windle said that a properly maintained
field can help reduce player injuries. Win
dle displays the new lawnmower as the
Junior Varsity team practices in the
background. (Staff Photo by Kay
Abbott).
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Correct Measurements Cruycial
Lining off the field according to regulations is a time
consuming endeavor, according to local coaches. The
Trion Athletic department has sFent three dz?"s this
summer measuring and burning off lines at the football
field in preparation for the upcoming season. Assistant
Coach Gid Samples (left) assists Coach Tommy Sosebee
in measuring off hash marks. Sosebee is holding a sten
cil used in the process. (Staff Photo by Kay Abbott).
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Adding Final Touches
Adding yard line numbers hash marks and end zone let
tering are important finishing touches for a
%rofessional-looking football stadium, according to
rion Coach Tommy Sosebee. The numbers are created
by first “burning off"’ an area by spraying diesel fuel
through stencils and then painting the design white.
Above, Sosebee prepares to ‘‘burn off'’ numbers on the
field. (Staff Photo Ey Kay Abbott).
1986 CHS Indian Schedule
Sept. 5
Sept. 12
Sept. 19
Sept. 26
Oct. 3
Oct. 10
Oct. 17
Oct. 24
Oct. 31
Nov. 7
Nov. 14
1986 Trion Bulldog Schedule
Sept. 5
Sept. 12
Sept. 19
Sept. 26
Oct. 3
Oct. 10
Oct. 17
Oct. 24
Oct. 31
Nov. 7
Nov. 14
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