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Pennsylvania Turfgrass Council – Where Are They Now? Catching Up with Waddington/Harper Turfgrass Scholarship Winners
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Pennsylvania Turfgrass – Keystone Athletic Field Managers Organization
Where Are They Now? Catching Up with Waddington/Harper Turfgrass Scholarship Winners
Kyle Patterson still recalls his feeling upon winning the Waddington/Harper Turfgrass Scholarship in 2014: “To see that somebody else thought I had a chance to be successful meant more to me than any sort of monetary contribution!” Since 2001, KAFMO has been recognizing outstanding students of sports turf management with a scholarship named in honor of Dr. Donald Waddington and in memory of Dr. John Harper, two pillars of the Penn State turf program. The scholarships are awarded to advance students’ educational potential in the science of turfgrass management. We caught up with Kyle and three other Waddington/Harper Scholarship recipients to find out where their careers have taken them since graduation, and what impact the scholarship had.
Scholarship Impact
Ryan Radcliffe (Penn State 2001), Ben Polimer (Delaware Valley College 2004), Julie Adamski (Penn State 2012), and Kyle Patterson (Penn State 2014) all felt the impact of the scholarship in different ways. For Ryan Radcliffe, supervisor of grounds for the Middlesex Vocational School system, and Julie Adamski, Managing Director for NGAG, tuition assistance was a boon. Adamski adds that it also opened doors for meeting industry professionals. “As a college student it was great to be able to talk to those who have had experience and learn from them,” she recalls. Kyle Patterson, Campus Turf Manager at Towson University, remembers that winning the Waddington/Harper Scholarship was a huge confidence boost. “I used that confidence as a jumping off point post-graduation,” he says. Ben Polimer, who works for the town of Weston, MA, says that the scholarship introduced him to the Sports Turf Chapters of STMA. “Did I know at that point how involved I would become in both my local chapter, NESTMA and STMA? No way!” Polimer is currently the President of NESTMA and received two national awards from STMA in 2014 and 2015.
Why Turf Management?
When asked what originally attracted them to turf management, the two common denominators were sports and the outdoors. Radcliffe recalls that at a very young age he knew he wanted to be a groundskeeper. “I remember watching sporting events on TV not so much for the game but how the fields looked.” Through high school, Polimer worked for his dad taking care of a little league complex in his hometown of Sharon, MA. Patterson wanted to be involved in sports and “upon realizing that the participating side wasn’t going to get me there, I had to find a different avenue.” Adamski loved sports and science and “didn’t want to be in an office all day, every day… being around sports has been a bonus.”
No Two Careers Alike
So what does a turf management career look like after graduation? As it turns out, no two career paths are alike. Polimer has been Field and Grounds Manager for the town of Weston, MA since January 2016. He is responsible for all green space in town: sports turf, lawns, and landscapes around school and municipal buildings. He is also responsible for site work for the school department and project manager for any outdoor projects in town. His favorite thing about the job is the confidence the citizens have in him to make their green space as nice as possible.
Adamski manages the Natural Grass Advisory Group (NGAG), a field testing, education, and advisory company. She says the athlete is the number one priority for any sport and the one thing that has a direct impact on any athlete is the field. She loves being able to make a difference in field safety and performance.
Radcliffe is kept busy with 160 acres to maintain for the five schools in the Middlesex Vocational School system. He is particularly proud of their baseball fields, which host the state championship games. Patterson, who has been at Towson University just over 6 months now, oversees all outdoor athletics facilities (baseball, softball, two grass soccer fields, FieldTurf stadium, a multipurpose field and an in-progress field hockey facility.) Having recently made the jump into college athletics, he says he “absolutely loves trying to juggle the chaos of nine teams using the outdoor facilities throughout the year.” His favorite part of coming to Towson has been the culture. “It’s exciting to see what you can do when the people around you want to see you be successful and are pushing you to be better.”
Tips from the Pros
Anyone considering a career in turfgrass may appreciate tips from the pros’ personal experience. Radcliffe says that in addition to studying turfgrass, the most beneficial thing is on-the-job training. “If it’s on a golf course or a professional field, they will learn a vast amount that they will use for a lifetime. While at Penn State I worked on the Beaver Stadium grounds crew and four summers with the Reading Phillies. Combining book knowledge with the real-life application of working on the fields will make a great professional.”
Polimer urges students to look to the non-golf part of the business, pointing out that sports turf is a growing industry with great people. He also recommends getting involved in professional organizations like KAFMO and NESTMA.
Patterson’s advice to current students is to pick the road you want to travel, whether it be golf, sports turf, or landscape and work at as many levels of that road as you can before you get out of school. The bright lights of professional sports aren’t for everybody, he cautions. “You can be really good at what you do in a different scene. That may be minor league baseball, a parks and rec setting, or college athletics. Find your niche and be the best turf manager you can be.”
Students currently enrolled in an approved turfgrass program at an accredited college or university who have completed a substantial portion of the requirements needed for graduation are encouraged to apply for a Waddington/Harper Turfgrass Scholarship in 2019. For details, please visit http://www.kafmo.org/scholarships.htm.
Research Summaries
High humid condition at turf canopy: A major mediating factor for infection, colonization, and conidiation process in gray leaf spot pathosystem
Research Summary submitted by Dr. Wakar Uddin, Professor, and Dr. Yinfei Li, former Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Plant Pathology and Environ. Microbiology, Penn State University
Gray leaf spot, caused by Magnaporthe oryzae Couch, is a serious disease of perennial ryegrass turf, causing extensive damage to ryegrass fairways in various regions of the United States. Environmental conditions are important determinants in gray leaf spot epidemic development in perennial ryegrass fairways. The disease usually first develops in higher cut turf, particularly the rough where prolonged leaf wetness often remains for an extended period of time. Three environmental components, temperature, leaf wetness duration, and relative humidity (RH) govern gray leaf spot development in a uniquely interactive fashion. The effects of temperature and free leaf moisture have been previously documented; however, the effects of RH, particularly the infection process have not been well understood.
In our study on the effects of relative humidity (88, 92, 96, and 100% RH), the RH threshold for successful infection by the pathogen was at 92% or higher under moderately warm condition (82°F). The advancement of infection on the leaf tissue was further examined with a green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged pathogen strain. No appressorium formation was found when the inoculum was incubated at 88% RH or below. The GFP-tagged straining provided a rapid procedure to quantitatively compare the fungal colonization from colonized leaf tissue at different relative humidity. The fluorescence intensity data showed that the level of fungal pathogen biomass was greatest at the highest level of humidity (RH 100%) and there was no fluorescence intensity observed at 88% RH or below. The conidiation (production of fungal spores) occurred at 96% RH with the most abundant spore production occurring 8 days after inoculation. Reduced spore production was associated with decreased RH, and no spore production occurred at RH 92% or lower. Our study indicates that infection and production of spores by the gray leaf spot pathogen on perennial ryegrass host required different thresholds of RH which were 92 and 96%, respectively. This study reveals the importance of the presence of highly humid conditions for disease epidemic development and secondary infection process in gray leaf spot pathosystem.
Update from Center for Sports Surface Research
Research Summary submitted by Tom Serensits, Manager, Center for Sports Surface Research, Penn State University
At Penn State’s Center for Sports Surface Research, our research continues to focus on maximizing both the safety and playability of natural and synthetic turf playing fields. After a harsh winter including 19 straight days with low temperatures in the single digits, our warm season grass plots experienced some winter kill but bounced back nicely during the wet summer.
Our warm season research plots include three bermudagrass cultivars (Patriot, Northbridge, and Latitude 36) and one zoysiagrass cultivar (Zeon). These plots allow us to test traction and other surface characteristics on grasses used in the south in addition to our Kentucky bluegrass plots. We are also currently involved in a turf traction study that included taking our traction tester ‘Pennfoot’ on the road to various fields in the northeast this summer. Our research findings continue to point to the importance of cleat selection as aggressive cleat patterns typically produce higher torque and injury risk on both synthetic and natural turf.
We continue to evaluate and compare test methods for measuring surface hardness. Guides for measuring and managing surface hardness along with other useful information can be found in the ‘Resources’ area of our website – ssrc.psu.edu.
Entomology Lab News
Research Summary submitted by Ben McGraw, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Turfgrass Entomology
In my spring update, I mentioned how the 2017 growing was challenging and how excessive rainfall allowed turfgrass insect populations (e.g. annual bluegrass weevils (ABW), white grubs, and crane flies) to increase in number, to go undetected or untreated. I could not have forecasted how much more challenging 2018 would be in terms of insect management.
ABW populations were some of the highest we have seen in a long time. Large rainfall events around the key larvicide applications in the 1st generation (mid- to late-May timings) affected control of many of our go-to products. This likely contributed to denser populations going into the summer and surprisingly, a fair amount of damage occurring late into September and October. The damage caused by white grubs, especially northern masked chafers and Japanese beetles, also hit epic levels. I cannot recall a season where there was more direct (root feeding) damage in September and October.
We continue to work on finding cultural controls for these pests as well as earthworms. A long-term study was initiated this spring at the Valentine Research Center to examine the effect of saponin and acidifying fertilizers, fungicides, and sand topdressing on cast reductions, pH reduction, and thatch dilution.
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