Cover Story

Community Turfgrass Management: A Labor of Love

By Julie Holt, Managing Editor, Leading Edge Communications

When you enter the office of Dr. Dan Hollandsworth, Assistant Principal at Heritage Middle School, you’ll find the trappings of most public school administrators – leadership books, disciplinary forms, a student Chromebook awaiting repair, stacks of stuffed-full file folders, holding many years’ worth of planning and management for a school with over 800 adolescents. What you’d find here that is uncommon in many such offices is a five-gallon bucket of field paint. In the 2023–2024 school year, Hollandsworth took on the daunting task of improving and maintaining the school’s football and practice fields.

Sports field management is not included in school admin coursework, training, or job descriptions, but this assistant principal, like many coaches, parents and teachers, has stepped up to the plate to fill a need for both his students and the community.

Despite having no prior experience in turfgrass management, Hollandsworth knew he had to make an effort to improve his school’s sports fields for two reasons. One factor was finances. “We had a company come out and they were doing weed mitigation, and it didn’t work,” Hollandsworth says. “We paid a significant amount of money and we still had hemlock, clover, crabgrass, dallisgrass, we had everything. That’s too much money, and we don’t have the budget to waste.”

But finances were secondary to Hollandsworth. What really ignited his drive to take on this project was his students. “Our coach told us that kids at other schools were making fun of our kids because our facilities looked so bad. And I was like, ‘not on my watch’. This is something that I can do, that I can learn.”

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HMS Volunteer Sports Field Management at a Glance

Fields Managed

Baseball (shared with local rec organization)

Football / Soccer field

Practice field (previously an elementary PE rec area, just added in the 25 – 26 school year)

Equipment

Toro 2600D Fairway mower

Cub Cadet Tank LZ60 ZTR

Bunton walk behind for mowing the cross-country course

Toro Workman 3200 (brought from home)

Agrifab spreader (from Amazon)

30-gallon Northern Tool Sprayer (from a pallet sale).

Bluebird tow behind aerator (refurbished by Hollandsworth)

NewStripe line painting machine (very old, found on Facebook Marketplace)

Classen overseeder for verticutting (Home Depot’s used tool sale)

Cultural Practices

Pest management – as needed for anthills or animals digging in the field, Bifen XL

Mowing – During the heat of the summer, 3/4” about every other day. Sometimes every three days, but at that point its getting really thick.

Aeration – about once every 1 – 2 months.

Verticutting – approximately 2 – 3 times per year, but we only got the machine this year so I’m still figuring out what is best.

Irrigation – Minimal this summer due to plenty of rain. Currently watering every other day. “Because the field needs to be topdressed more, it isn’t absorbing water like I want it to. I’ve had to resort to more frequent watering to make sure that I don’t dry out at the bottom of the roots.”

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A Little Goes a Long Way

Located 30 miles south of Nashville in Thompson’s Station, HMS is part of Williamson County Schools. Williamson County is a suburb of Nashville where there is an expectation that school sports facilities will be up-to-date and well maintained, despite minimal budgetary assistance from the school system. Additional funding may come in from PTO support or fundraising by individual sports teams, but even those funds are limited and must be used judiciously. Coaches and PTO boards who allot those funds have many competing interests as financial support is needed for a variety of academic, facility and extracurricular items.

This challenge is not unique to HMS or Williamson County Schools, it is the norm for many school sports fields, and it is often the unlikely candidates who fill the role of part-time turfgrass manager. Those volunteers also must make a little bit of funding go a long way.

The county provides a budget that is meant to cover mowing and chemicals, but at HMS, that full budget is typically needed for chemicals alone. To accommodate this need, Hollandsworth does the mowing and chemical application himself, along with equipment repair.

When it comes to the manhours required to maintain a sports field, Hollandsworth is mostly a one-man show. After a full day of administrative duties, most days you’ll find him mowing, sweeping, repairing irrigation or painting lines for the night’s matchup. “The time spent on the job has been a third mowing and applying chemicals, a third dealing with the irrigation system, and a third dealing with the mechanics,” he says.

Starting from Scratch

“Any equipment we had was in some form of disrepair,” Hollandsworth says of the beginning days of his work on the fields. “I spent a lot of time on mowers. I’ve done a lot of work with hydraulics, I refurbished our aerator. Our irrigation system, that is just constant repair.” Hollandsworth says that there was no irrigation map or plan on file, so all of the repairs or additions to the system have been like a treasure hunt. After many repairs and exploration, he says he has an additional task -- he wants to make this easier for whoever comes after him. “I want to create a map of everything that I have dug and where it goes. So, when leave here at some point, somebody else can pick it up and go.” It is that attitude that illustrates Hollandsworth’s commitment to creating something that students, coaches, parents and the entire community can be proud of.

Hollandsworth gives a tremendous amount of credit to the turf industry professionals who have stepped up to give advice. Brent Needham of Dickens Turf, who has a son on the HMS football team, has offered help in the weed ID and control department. Hollandsworth says, “I’ll send Brent a picture and ask, ‘what in the world is this weed and how do I kill it?’ He’s instantly got an answer, and he’ll have the chemical in stock for me the next day.”

Needham has been impressed with the careful allotment of resources and how far Hollandsworth can make his budget go. “I don’t know how he does it with the limited funds he receives, but I hope he gets a lot of credit for the work he’s done for that school.”

Likewise, Hollandsworth has found an advisor in longtime TTA member Bill Blackburn of Smith Turf and Irrigation. Blackburn offers insight on a range of issues including equipment repair, weeds and even the school’s frequent visits from neighborhood skunks and armadillos. Blackburn has also been impressed with Hollandsworth’s dedication to his students, school and community. “I believe Dan could fix just about anything. He is extremely intelligent, has lots of common sense and cares enough to do it right. He is a real asset to the community,” Blackburn says.

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Dr. Hollandsworth has spent an abundance of his personal time improving our field, and Soccer and Football coaches around the county have stated their amazement at not only the appearance but the quality of playing surface for both sports. We are blessed to have an incredible admin who puts in so much time for our student athletes.

HMS Football Coach, Billy Umstetter

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An Opportunity for Professional Sports Field Managers

While professional sports field managers may have more education, tools and monetary resources at their disposal, stories like this can provide great context and inspiration for the professional SFM community. Every town has a story just like this one, but not every school has an assistant principal, coach or parent that is as willing and able to do the work.

Most public schools are never going to have funds to have these fields professionally managed, but that doesn’t mean there’s no place for industry professionals to contribute to this cause.

Even when your work day is hectic, taking 15 minutes to share a little bit of advice or knowledge can make a major difference for an untrained volunteer who is learning and working in their free time.

The trickle-down effect in your community can have a tremendous impact. Young athletes will be playing on better, safer fields. Coaches will have more confidence in their facilities, and parents and community members will be proud to use and share these spaces.

Professional SFMs have a ready path to not only demonstrate the benefits of well-managed natural grass sports fields, but also the professionalism and value of turfgrass managers. Find these community fields and their volunteer managers. Offer advice, mentor, volunteer. Connect them with resources like local extension, training and certification.

Healthy turfgrass benefits coaches, athletes, the community and the environment, but the tools and resources aren’t always accessible to everyone. Turfgrass professionals are well-known for being generous in helping each other, and community turfgrass managers should be no exception.

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Q & A with HMS Baseball Coach Jacob Coners

The HMS baseball field is managed by the head baseball coach, Jacob Coners, with support from Hollandsworth. While this field has a different set of challenges, these volunteers have stepped up to raise funds, spearhead an infield renovation, and do ongoing field maintenance.

What year did you begin coaching at HMS?

I began coaching baseball at HMS as an assistant in the spring of 2021. Became head coach the spring of 2024.

Did you have any turfgrass / sports field management experience or knowledge prior to this field project?

As a teenager, I prepped fields for our local little league growing up. When I started playing college baseball, we helped prep our college field for our home games. I’ve gotten more experience over the years. It is a rewarding experience taking care of ball fields.

What were the challenges with the existing baseball field?

We had and still have significant grading issues. The field is conically graded (the ground beneath the pitcher’s mound is the highest point, which is why the pitcher’s mound looks tiny) and drains towards the dugouts. It leads to bad erosion; it was especially bad when the field was an all dirt infield. It has improved since we’ve installed the TifTuf.

What was the timeline for renovation?

Fall 2021 – Began planning for fundraising

Fall of 2022 – Installed TifTuf Bermudagrass and irrigation to the infield

Summer of 2024 – Graded about 48 tons of sand over the Bermuda infield to smooth out imperfections, which also slightly improved drainage.

What professional help did you receive?

Sod Source installed the Bermuda and the Irrigation. Williamson County Parks and Rec turf specialist Connor Schutzman provided guidance.

How was the renovation funded?

We asked members of the team for donations, those team members asked family/friends and members of the community. We also had the financial support of both our school PTO and local corporate sponsors. South Williamson Athletics Baseball (the rec league that shares the fields) contributed as well.

How do you handle the exceptionally high use of the field between rec and HMS practices and games?

It is tough, SWA still practices and plays games on Field 5 that require the use of 60 ft. bases. That obviously is tough on the infield grass, particularly in the areas where the bases are. Pitchers in those games and practices, pitch from 46 ft away and that area would be torn up as well, we decided to install a pitcher’s lane between the home plate circle and the pitcher’s mound as the grass had a hard time growing there.

Do you have any further field improvements you’d like to make in the future?

At some point, I’d like to adjust the grading over time to allow for the pitcher’s mound to look like a regulation sized mound. Because the field slopes down from the mound towards home plate, the mound is set at 10 inches above home plate, but it looks only 5–6 inches tall.

What are your goals for this field?

My goal is to have a field that Heritage can be proud of. Over time, we’ve seen significant improvements and that is something to be proud of. We hope to continue to improve the field over time.