The Future of Sports Turf Higher Education Needs Your Opinion

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The Future of Sports Turf Higher Education Needs Your Opinion: There is a proposed new Level 5 Sports Turf Technical Manager Apprenticeship on the horizon with the option of including a Sports Turf Foundation Degree.  What are your thoughts on this?

In October 2023, a new Level 3 Advanced Sports Turf Technician Apprenticeship was made available (for details please see Institute for Apprenticeship and Technical Education (IFATE) website).  This new progression route builds on the Level 2 Sports Turf Operatives or Level 2 Greenkeeping and/or supports those seeking to develop their supervisory skills, knowledge and behaviours in sports turf.

The Future of Sports Turf Higher Education Needs Your Opinion

The Future of Sports Turf Higher Education Needs Your Opinion

Based on the role and duties of a sports turf manager, IFATE have now recognised that a continued progression route to a higher level 5 apprenticeship qualification in sports turf may be needed.

To ascertain the taught knowledge, skills and behaviours for a level 5 sports turf manager, a new survey is now available to canvas industry opinion.   If you have a vested interest in sports turf, sports turf operatives (groundstaff/groundskeepers) and general management of sports turf (e.g. any sport that uses a predominantly natural grass surface), then please complete the survey

Survey: https://forms.office.com/e/iYyA7Y3L06

Further to this, the survey is seeking opinion for utilising an existing level 5 university sports turf qualification as an educational programme towards achieving a level 5 Sports Turf Technical Manager apprenticeship.  Specifically, utilising a ‘Foundation Degree in Sports Turf Management’.

Why a Foundation Degree?  The newly developed recommended ‘Duties’ of a level 5 Sports Turf Technical Manager indicated a role that is based on science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).  The Foundation Degree in Sports Turf is a longstanding STEM-based higher education sports turf qualification.  The existence of the FD is potentially readymade to meet this need.  Over 200 sports turf professionals have completed the FD since 2013 and just over 50 have progressed further and graduated with a Bachelor of Science with honours (BSc. Hons).  It appears to be a successful qualification for technical sports turf professionals, however there may be barriers preventing more individuals from achieving this qualification, namely university tuition fees.

Why Apprenticeships? Completion of a formal apprenticeship is a recognised qualification that confirms that an individual has completed at least a year of training and education and has sat an independently assessed and regulated examination, known as an End-Point Assessment.  Arguably, the UK Government values Apprenticeships and generates funding to incentivise and meet the costs of this training for employers.

If the turf industry is of the opinion that the Foundation Degree in Sports Turf Management has a valuable part of Level 5 Apprenticeship for Sports Turf, then there is a good case to include this qualification.

How much will it cost?  In summary, a Level 5 apprentice’s employer could access about a 95-100% reduction in the fees.  An apprentice would have no fee.  An employer would need to facilitate an average of six hours a week for an apprentice’s off-the-job training.

Please complete the survey if you would like to contribute on the future of sports turf education and training for higher level apprenticeships

Survey: https://forms.office.com/e/iYyA7Y3L06

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Wiedenmann Terra Float Air is new arrival at Ardfin

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Wiedenmann Terra Float Air is new arrival at Ardfin: Newly appointed Director of Golf at Ardfin, Stewart Duff, has chosen a Wiedenmann Terra Float Air for his first machinery purchase.  

Stewart. who took up his post at the Isle of Jura estate in October, had been working as a consultant for the estate prior to taking on the Director of Golf role.

Wiedenmann Terra Float Air is new arrival at Ardfin

Wiedenmann Terra Float Air is new arrival at Ardfin

Exceptional in every aspect, Ardfin opened for play in 2017, and is set amidst 10 miles of unspoilt shoreline on the south of Jura, offering breath taking wildlife and golf in equal measure.

A niche project for the course’s greens and aprons prompted Wiedenmann UK’s Mike James to deliver the distinctive pneumatic overseeder via ferry.

“Ardfin has predominantly fescue greens,” explained Stewart Duff.  “As things mature, it’s not unusual for other grasses to creep in, resulting in a handful of areas appearing a little patchy. Our goal is to add another fine leaf bent grass into the surfaces without disturbance, which will help everything blend better.

“Gordon Howat from the R&A recommended the purchase of the Terra Float Air and I was in full agreement with his recommendation, so it was an easy choice. It was here within weeks, only some notable storms prevented Mike getting it to us sooner…”

With rates as low as 1 g / m², the Air offers class-leading features. The operator inserts the chosen seed into size-appropriate dosing sleeves. Next, the seed bed is determined by selecting from a range of hole-making tools, including stars and cone-shaped ones, from just 5 mm in diameter. The tools are inserted into a heavy-duty floating 3-part spike roller which effortlessly follows contours.  It loosens and aerates the soil down to 30 mm, creating uniform ‘seed pots. Electric-drive technology is used for all aspects of seed delivery; the seed-dosing sleeves and fan are both electric powered. Seeds are delivered pneumatically down a series of eight pipes onto deflector plates, which direct the seed into the ‘pots.’ An in-cab computer stores data from previous runs and allows amendment to the application rate at any point. After the seeds are in the ground, a double layer sweeping brush follows on and it, too, has floating properties. A further three-part roller gives an optimal brush and roller combination to incorporate top dressing materials to the ground, before smoothing the surface.

“For a site like this, very little surface disruption is critical,” continued Stewart. “We anticipate five applications a year to the greens and aprons. We’ll go in with bent four times and fescue once, but regardless of which one, we want no impact to the golfer.”

Already the maiden run has taken place. Using Aitkens bent grass seed at 5 g per m², the Ardfin team targeted a handful of greens.

“It was a dream to use,” said Stewart, “Very versatile and easy to calibrate. Further down the line, it is likely we will over-seed more fescue into the greens and rye into pathways using the 8mm tines.”

Mike James, Wiedenmann UK’s Sales Manager, said:

“Stewart chose two separate seed delivery sleeves for bent and for fescue, along with the smallest sized tools for bent (5 mm) and the longer (8 mm) cone tines for fescue and rye. Seed-specific sleeves and tools are one of the standout features of the Air.  Combining them appropriately gives extreme accuracy.”

Wiedenmann UK’s dealer in Scotland, Fairways GM, led by Regional Manager, Rob Hogarth will provide ongoing sales support.

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Volunteers help get Wembley pitch match fit

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Volunteers help get Wembley pitch match fit: Two volunteer groundskeepers were given the experience of a lifetime by helping prepare the world-famous Wembley pitch ahead of the Lionesses’ game against the Netherlands.

The Premier League, The FA and Government’s Football Foundation ran a competition as part of the Get Your Pitch Match Fit campaign that celebrates the importance of grass pitches and the groundskeepers who maintain them for the grassroots game.

Volunteers help get Wembley pitch match fit

Volunteers help get Wembley pitch match fit

Trevor Chenery and Tony Hesketh are volunteer groundskeepers at Halesworth Town Juniors FC in Suffolk and Acton Ealing Whistlers AFC in West London respectively. Between them, the Clubs have received over £129k in grant funding from the Foundation to get their pitches looking and playing their best.

Wembley Stadium’s Grounds Manager, Karl Standley, was on hand to offer expert advice, show them what’s involved in getting the hallowed turf match ready and help them put the finishing touches on England’s most prestigious pitch.

Trevor said: “Every football fan dreams of stepping out onto the Wembley pitch, so to be able to do that has been a dream come true.

“Groundskeeping is a real labour of love and today I’ve seen that it’s exactly the same for the top groundskeepers in the country. There’s so much I’ve learnt that’ll help me take my own pitch to the next level.

“I’d like to thank the Football Foundation for all the advice and funding I have received so far by using PitchPower and of course for the incredible opportunity today.”

The pair were selected at random from users of PitchPower – the Football Foundation’s free web app for inspecting and improving grass pitches.

Through PitchPower, anyone responsible for a grass pitch can inspect their pitches and receive bespoke advice from experts at the Grounds Management Association on how to improve them. After receiving these recommendations, PitchPower users have the opportunity to apply for grants of up to £12,800 per pitch through the Foundation to put them into action.

Tony said: “Before using PitchPower, we regularly had to call off games because our pitches just couldn’t handle any form of bad weather.

“Now, not only are our fixtures able to go ahead as planned, but our players actually enjoy the games more because they get to play on quality playing surfaces. That transformation wouldn’t have been possible without PitchPower and the funding we received from the Football Foundation.

“Today has been great and I hope to take some of Karl’s advice back to our pitches at Acton Ealing Whistlers AFC to ensure all our players can enjoy their football!”

Karl Standley, Wembley Grounds Manager and Football Foundation Supporter, said: “Having a quality playing surface is vital, whether you’re playing in the World Cup final or Sunday League with your friends.

“The grassroots game couldn’t function without volunteer groundskeepers giving up their time for clubs across the country and I’m proud to help the Football Foundation shine a spotlight on the vital role they play.

“Thanks to the support of the Premier League, The FA and Government, the Foundation will be investing £21 million a year to get grass pitches across the country looking and playing their best.

“I’d encourage anyone responsible for a grass pitch to keep an eye out on the Foundation’s social channels for tips and tricks on how to maintain their grass pitches and sign up to PitchPower to start their grass pitch transformation journey.”

To help more people enjoy all the benefits of grassroots sport, the Foundation has set the target of reaching 20,000 ‘good’ quality grass pitches across the country by 2030.

For more information, head over to the Foundation’s website:

https://footballfoundation.org.uk/get-your-pitch-match-fit

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