Winter 2005

LESCONEWS

Vol. 43 No. 1

Maintaining 17 soccer fields is turf management hat trick

When a soccer player scores three goals during a single game, it’s called a hat trick. But when a sports turf manager and his crew of three maintain 17 soccer fields hosting 240 games each, there is no fancy term to apply to their efforts. “Hard work” will have to do.

David D’Orazio can tell you more. He’s the sports turf manager at the Maryland SoccerPlex and he knows all about what it’s like to maintain the 17-field complex near Germantown, Maryland. And because D’Orazio thrives on the challenge, you’ll never hear him complain. Perhaps that’s because he arrived well prepared.
When D’Orazio accepted the sports turf manager position at the Maryland SoccerPlex, he came armed with a bachelor’s degree in business, an associate’s degree in golf course management and more than 10 years of experience at such notable venues as Congressional and Columbia country clubs. Equipped with the knowledge and desire to succeed, he wasted no time tackling his new responsibilities.

On the job now for a little over a year, he has converted six under-performing bermudagrass fields to Kentucky bluegrass, launched an aggressive aeration and overseeding program and instituted a new nutrient management strategy using LESCO NOVEX® fertilizers. One look at the fields and it is obvious D’Orazio and his assistant, John Shuey, and crewmembers Edwin Duarte and Aroldo Diaz pour a lot of time and energy into field conditioning and maintenance.

Public/private partnership

Built at a cost of nearly $20 million and opened in October 2000, the soccer complex was jointly funded by the Maryland Soccer Foundation, the State of Maryland and Montgomery County. D’Orazio works for the non-profit Maryland Soccer Foundation, which oversees the day-to-day operation of the soccer fields as well as the 64,000-sq. ft. Discovery Sports Center located on the property.

“ The cooperation and understanding I receive from the foundation makes it possible for me to achieve the results I do,” D’Orazio said. “It’s been phenomenal. They really look out for my needs.”

The Maryland SoccerPlex provides players with 16 native-soil fields and the sand-based facility at the Championship Stadium. All fields measure 80 by 120 yards, are mowed three times a week at 1” with fairway-type reel mowers and feature subsurface irrigation.

Phase II plans call for the addition of three new fields. The Foundation may also consider adding lighting to three fields for extended play.

The complex is used primarily by area leagues – some with as many as a thousand teams. Most players are age 19 and under. The Championship Stadium field, which is fully lighted and provides bleacher seating for 3,200, has hosted the 2002-2003 U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships, a U.S. Olympic qualifier, served as a practice facility for international teams such as Boca Juniors and has been the site of an exhibition game for D.C. United, the Major League Soccer franchise based in nearby Washington.

Games at the complex take place mostly on the weekends. Each of the 17 fields hosts five events per day on Saturdays and Sundays from mid-March through the end of June and again from the end of August through the end of November. Use of the fields during the week is not nearly so intense, which gives D’Orazio and his crew time to put them back in shape for the weekend onslaught. D’Orazio feels fortunate to have the Monday through Friday break in play to concentrate on maintenance and admits he occasionally flaunts the flexibility to his buddies on the golf side of the business.

“ I tell them to envision taking care of a golf course where there is play only on Saturday and Sunday and you can do whatever you want to the turf Monday through Friday,” he said.

Density rules

Shortly after arriving at the Maryland SoccerPlex, D’Orazio realized he would need to focus on relieving compaction and building turf density on the playing fields. He set up a meeting with LESCO Sales Representative Mike Vanek, who encouraged him to try LESCO fertilizers.

D’Orazio initially applied LESCO 24-5-11 with 50% Poly Plus® sulfur-coated urea in early October, followed by NOVEX 19-2-19 about five weeks later. He made a second NOVEX application in early March, prior to the start of the spring soccer season, and now uses NOVEX to provide 1 lb. nitrogen per 1,000 sq. ft. approximately every six weeks. Results sold him on the product.

“ I was expecting good color and growth, but was really impressed by the density,” D’Orazio commented. “It is very important to me to develop a dense turfgrass canopy and root mass because those are the two things that help us handle the wear and tear and remain open when rain is an issue. Our fields hold up remarkably.

“ We host 240 events per field and last year we did only small amounts of sodding in the goalmouths, some of the centers and a little on the sidelines,” he went on to say. “This year I don’t anticipate doing any sodding and I credit it to the use of the NOVEX and sound agronomic principles such as proper water management, aeration and seeding.”

In addition to the agronomic results he achieves, D’Orazio also commends the NOVEX product quality.
“ It’s a really consistent fertilizer with no clumping and a nice weight,” is how he described it. “We apply the NOVEX using a big pull-behind spreader and we have excellent spreadability.”

Change is good

When built, the Maryland SoccerPlex had 11 Kentucky bluegrass and six bermudagrass fields. The bermudagrass fields did not perform as well as anticipated, primarily because overseeding coincided with the fall soccer season and the rye began transitioning out during spring play.

“ The bermuda fields never quite took off, so last fall the operations committee and I made a decision to convert those fields to bluegrass,” D’Orazio pointed out. “The bermudagrass had thinned to the point that we were able to accomplish our mission by aggressively aerating and overseeding.

With all Kentucky bluegrass fields, D’Orazio has been able to establish more consistent maintenance procedures. Aeration and overseeding are two key strategies for providing safe, well-conditioned sports turf for the players.

D’Orazio aerates and overseeds each field three or four times a year. On all but the Championship Stadium site, which he topdresses with sand, he uses a dragmat to break up cores and return the soil to the field. In addition to the whole-field aeration, he goes out with a smaller machine every two weeks to aerate field centers and corners, goalmouths and bench areas.

“ I’m fortunate because I know which areas have the potential for the most compaction, so I can go out and proactively eliminate those problems by aerifying and seeding,” D’Orazio explained. “Just like on a golf course tee, we use a sand/seed mixture to repair worn areas.”
As he enters his second year at the Maryland SoccerPlex, D’Orazio takes time to consider not only what he has accomplished in his new position, but also how it compares to his previous golf course maintenance experience. On both accounts, he couldn’t be more pleased.

“ I’m happy because I’m about six months ahead of where I thought I would be with the fields and am thoroughly enjoying sports turf management. It’s wonderful,” he related. “Everything from a maintenance standpoint is still there, so it’s challenging, the standards are high and I have to rely on sound agronomic principles.”

David D’Orazio can do nothing to determine who wins and who loses the thousands of games played each year at the Maryland SoccerPlex. But perhaps he possesses a greater power. With the phenomenal cooperation he receives from the Maryland Soccer Foundation, the hard work he generates from his crew and the outstanding results he achieves with his turf management program, he creates a positive experience for all who play there.

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