STMA’s Conference Education Committee has put together an exciting and informative education program for the 2022 Conference in Savannah, Ga. Each month, speakers presenting at the conference will be featured. Don’t miss the networking and educational opportunities offered this year!
Fred Stringfellow, CAE; Kirk Grego, CFB; Allen Verdin, CFB; and Craig Honkomp, PE, PS, LEED AP
Fred Stringfellow, CAE is the executive director for American Sports Builders Association; Kirk Grego, CFB is president of Mid-America Sports Construction/Mid-America Golf and Landscape; Allen Verdin, CFB is the director of project management for the Motz Group; and Craig Honkomp, PE, PS, LEED AP, is a senior engineer at Sportworks Design. They will be teaming up to present the session “Designing/Building a Sports Field with Grounds Managers in Mind” on Thursday, January 20.
As designers and builders, we often hear from facility owners and grounds managers after a facility has been in operation for a period of time about “things they wish had been done differently.” Wouldn’t it be nice if you considered those things BEFORE a new facility was designed and built?
Attendees will:
- Learn about facility design that impacts Grounds Managers, and how those could be implemented at an existing facility.
- Participate in an interactive discussion about what would make life as a Grounds Manager easier, while at the same time improving the facility.
- Learn how to give ideas voice when planning a new facility and show your value to the process.
Evan Mascitti is a Ph.D. candidate at Penn State University. On Tuesday, January 18, he will be presenting “Novel Lab Tests for Baseball & Softball Infield Mixes.”
Engineered soils have greatly improved the quality of infields. Current specifications revolve around particle-size analysis (PSA). PSA is useful, but it does not directly consider the soil’s behavior. New laboratory tests provide more information by directly measuring a soil’s response to applied loads and to changes in water content.
Attendees will learn:
- The best infield soils are those that remain playable over a wide range of water content.
- Mechanical behavior and water content should be directly measured when assessing an infield soil.
- Various clays and infield mixes can behave differently, even when their particle-size distributions are similar.