Big League Renovation Planned for High School Ball Field

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Turface Athletics, in partnership with The Toro Co. and Covermaster, is gearing up to hit a charitable homerun on Jan. 18 by gathering the largest number of Major League Baseball (MLB) and National Football League (NFL) professional groundskeepers ever assembled to repair and renovate a Phoenix, Ariz. high school baseball field. Taking place prior to the Sports Turf Managers Association's (STMA) annual meeting in Phoenix Jan. 19 through 23, this construction is part of the Professional Sports Turf Symposium 2005 that assembles the country's most high-profile groundskeepers who will donate their time to build a safer, more competitive field for high school players.

 

Additionally, Profile Products will bring together some of the industry's most publicized-and scrutinized-groundskeepers for the fifth year in a row. This year's project will take place Jan. 18 at North High School in Phoenix where the professionals will repair the school's baseball field before convening for the annual STMA conference. Renovating and repairing the field will include conditioning the infield, rebuilding the pitcher's mound and batters' boxes, replacing sod and repairing the bullpens. The day will conclude with the field in “game ready” condition.

 

As part of the STMA conference, MLB and NFL groundskeepers will also conduct a workshop seminar at the baseball field to show how the field was repaired and what materials were used. STMA participants will then have opportunities to speak with the professional groundskeepers about issues facing groundskeepers in sports field management.

 

"The groundskeepers coming to rebuild North High School's field are the elite of the elite," said Charlie Vestal, Turface Sports Field Manager at Profile Products. "By getting 'in the dirt,' these industry leaders are showing their commitment to the industry by giving back to a deserving community."

 

North High School was selected to have its baseball field repaired and renovated because both coaches and players have daily, active roles in maintaining the field. This level of commitment was noteworthy because North High School, which has a student population of 2,500, has only the solitary baseball field for all its varsity, junior varsity and freshman baseball teams.