The goal for any athletic field should always be to achieve the ultimate playability. There’s nothing worse than impacting the gameplay or potentially having an athlete injury occur because your field was not properly maintained.
But keeping sports fields in optimal playing condition doesn’t always come easy. In fact, there are a variety of sports field maintenance services that must work together to accomplish that objective.
There are three key athletic field maintenance services that we believe are most important when it comes to achieving ultimate playability. While there are certainly other services that you and your athletic field maintenance provider may also discuss, these absolutely need to be on your radar for keeping playability at its best.
The number one focus of sports field maintenance services should be maintaining planarity.
Planarity, which comes from the Latin word planus, which means flat, is all about creating a field that is on level ground. This is absolutely imperative when it comes to playability.
With planarity, you should also achieve proper drainage, which is one of the biggest concerns in athletic field maintenance. When fields do not drain properly, they are at risk of becoming damaged or even worse, causing an injury. Of course, fields that aren’t draining well are also not going to be highly playable.
Unfortunately, water damage problems can be a common problem (and this is typically due to poor drainage). That’s why it’s so important that the commercial provider of your athletic field maintenance services is on top of these drainage issues. Those in the industry know that drainage issues can sometimes sneak up on you when you aren’t regularly inspecting the surface.
However, with regular maintenance and an ongoing eye on your field, the hope is to prevent some of these problems before they become something serious. Oftentimes, when issues are addressed early on, you can prevent major expenses and potential downtime.
Proper and regular turf cleaning or aeration (depending upon what type of field you have) are two really important services that you should be paying attention to when it comes to maintaining playability.
If you have a synthetic turf field, then you should be sure that it is being deep cleaned on a regular basis.
An intensive cleaning will help to remove any debris that ends up atop or embedded in the field. It’s often amazing just how much fine particle debris can be extracted during a cleaning. Even small particles (like dust) can start to compound and cause a negative impact on playability if not addressed.
If you are operating a natural turf athletic field, then you’ll want to be sure that you’re having turf core aeration performed for your turf type.
Aeration is absolutely critical because it relieves compaction by allowing air, water, and fertilizer to reach the turf’s root zone, where it’s needed most. Because of the heavy wear and tear of a sports field, it is quite prone to becoming compacted.
Having this service performed (typically several times a year) will make a huge difference.
When it comes to natural sports fields, you’ll also want to make sure that proper grooming (mowing, fertilization, and weed control) is performed as it was meant to be. Each of these is incredibly important when it comes to playability.
Maintaining the proper length to maintain playability is a big deal. The turf cannot get too long so that the ball or the athlete is inhibited in any way.
But while you certainly don’t want the grass to be too long, it also can’t be mowed too short, either. When the turf is scalped, it can begin to experience major stress. As it suffers it will begin to perform suboptimally (not to mention not look its best, either).
Mowing is often one of those services that seem rather commonplace but when it comes to mowing for athletic fields, it needs to be taken quite seriously.
Everything from maintaining the optimal mowing frequency to ensuring it’s just the right turf height is really critical.
When it comes to mowing, on top of all the considerations we mentioned above, you also want to make sure that the provider of your athletic field maintenance services is respecting the schedule of your games/players.
This means hiring a professional partner who will prioritize your schedule.
Fertilization is also an important service that will help maintain the health of your turf and therefore your overall playability. You want to make sure that you hire a company that is going to keep track of these applications, ensuring that they’re performed at just the right interval and with the right materials.
The provider of your athletic field maintenance services should be talking to you about the overall goals of your turf in terms of thickness, looks, and performance, and tailor a fertility program that perfectly suits your wants and needs.
The same is true of weed control. You want to hire a commercial partner who is going to ensure that your sports turf remains free of weeds so that it continues to perform its best for your players.
Again your athletic field maintenance services provider should be talking to you about the overall goals of your turf and help tailor a weed control program that is perfect for your field.
Additionally, as with mowing, make sure that your provider is working their service schedule around your playing schedule so that there is in no way any interference and so that the field is always ready to go.
These specialty services are a big deal as they have a direct impact on the performance, looks, and overall usage of your field.
We understand that an athletic field is a significant financial commitment and you want to be sure that you’re getting the most out of it. By investing in professional sports field maintenance services, you are taking an important step to protect the investment in your field.
Of course, in order to truly gain peace of mind that your needs are being covered, it’s important that you choose a company you can trust. That means a company that will tailor their program to your field and help you achieve the results you’re seeking.
We know this is a huge decision and we’re here to help in any way that we can.
When it comes to maintaining the field you’ve invested in, we’re committed to taking every detail seriously so that you can take pride in the results and feel confident you’re going to get the most out of it.
Are you ready to feel confident in making a wise choice for sports field maintenance? Request a consultation today. We’ll meet to learn more about your needs and come up with a comprehensive plan to take care of all of the details for you.