Get to Know KYSFMA Member: Chase Watson - Elizabethtown Sports Park

• How did you get into field maintenance?

  • I was always into sports, one summer I worked at the local fields and I fell in love then have been doing since then!
    
    
    

• What’s a typical day out here look like for you?

  • Managing a crew of about 10-12 guys, planning the work for the week (from weed trimming to adding crumb rubber to fields, and everything in between.)
    
    
    

• What part of the job do you enjoy the most?

  • Fertilizing my fields, to make sure they good and have a safe playing surface.
    
    
    

• What’s the toughest part about keeping this field in good shape?

  • the heat, and traffic we have on the fields. Just the everyday play on them.
    
    
    

• How do you decide what needs to get done on a busy day?

  • I have a white board, M-F, i fill that out at the beginning of every week after a drive through from the weekend and what we had left from the week before, to my notes. Then I fill the board out task by task.
    
    
    

• What kind of equipment do you use the most?-

  • Toro. John Deere.( Mowers, Aerators, Sprayer, Workmans, Gators)
    
    
    
    

• How do you handle the field after bad weather?

  • Assess the weather damage, if it was a lot of rain. We will walk aerate our wear areas and goal boxes. Then top dress some softer lower areas.
    
    
    

• Which tasks take the longest or require the most patience?

  • Fertilizing the fields for sure!
    
    
    

• How do you work around team practices or games?

  • It's tough, we have an event coordinator that I work alongside, and on our off days that's when we will do our spraying and things like that.
    
    
    

• What’s one thing players or coaches do that makes your job easier? Harder?

  • Love all our coaches around here, but one thing that they want to practice and play every day! No brakes, none.
    
    
    

• Is there anything you wish people understood better about field maintenance?

  • Just how much we really do care about our fields, 95% of us do this because we really enjoy this type of work. We all take pride in all of this, to seeing kids play on safe surfaces to seeing the greenest fields as possible.
    
    
    

• What’s your favorite season for field work? Least favorite?

  • I love the fall time for sure, summer is probably my least. Just because the amount of days we go without rain.
    
    
    

• If you could upgrade anything about the field or equipment, what would it be?

  • That's a loaded question, I would have to say mowers or a new sprayer. But what we have works great!