When the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum prepared for the USC Football Season home opener against Missouri State on August 30, the stadium’s Athletic Turf and Grounds Crew featured six special guests.
Decked out in a full cardinal-and-gold wardrobe, four high school students and two teachers joined in on the fun, bringing enthusiasm and excitement while learning firsthand how to care for, maintain, paint and otherwise prepare the natural grass playing surface for game day. The students and teachers traveled to Los Angeles from the Central Valley, leaving their Atwater and Golden Valley High School Turf & Field classrooms behind for three days to experience this opportunity of a lifetime.
Behind the scenes
The students and their agriculture instructors were invited by the LA Memorial Coliseum’s Director of Sports Turf, Scott Lupold, to work alongside his hand-selected crew. The group was immersed in the demanding competition field preparation process under Lupold’s direction and leadership. On Thursday, the focus was on white paint; football yard lines, hash marks, numbers, and sponsor logos were outlined. On Friday, paint in the machines changed to cardinal, gold and blue, and the students and instructors assisted with filling in end zones, sponsor logos, and the center “SC” interlock. And on Saturday – game day – tarps were laid, the field was detailed, the warning track was swept and evened, and the whole group helped ensure the field was ready for football, down to the last detail.
“The LA Coliseum provided our students with a VIP experience,” said Dave Gossman, Atwater High School’s turf/field instructor. “They weren’t just watching on the sidelines — they were welcomed as part of the team and given hands-on opportunities to learn skills associated with the profession at the highest level.”
The LA Coliseum has played host to USC Football since its inception in 1923, and is the only stadium worldwide to host two Olympics (a third in 2028), two Super Bowls, and an MLB World Series.
“This place is pretty cool, when you really think about it,” said Lupold. “My favorite time and place in this stadium is the field early in the morning on a game day, when all is still quiet. There’s just a feeling, an energy in here that’s tough to describe or understand until you experience it.”
Growing a new pathway
This collaboration with the LA Coliseum places strong emphasis on the growing role of turf and sports field management in high school agricultural education. Atwater High School launched its Turfgrass and Sports Field Management course after Gossman attended the annual Sports Field Management Association (SFMA) Conference in 2019. The idea quickly took root, and within three years, Golden Valley High School’s instructor, Kevin Magill, expanded the program to his campus, which now offers two sections of the course.
Today, more than 100 students across the Merced Union High School District are enrolled in the program, which falls under the Agriculture sector’s Ornamental Horticulture pathway in Career Technical Education (CTE).
“Irrigation, soil, and turfgrass are core components of agriculture,” said Magill. “But what’s exciting is how this course has attracted students from non-agriculture backgrounds. Their love of sports creates a natural connection, and through this program they’re discovering agriculture in a new way.”
Lessons beyond the grass
For students, the educational trip to the LA Coliseum was about more than just painting lines, holding hoses, and rolling tarps. It was a lesson in teamwork, responsibility, discipline and professional standards. Each student went home with a new level of appreciation and respect for the industry.
“When you see a field on national television, you don’t realize the time, effort and resources that go into preparing it,” said Atwater High School Student Jose Perez. “The experience reinforced my interest in pursuing this as a career.”
Through high school program partnerships, the turf management industry asserts its investment in and commitment to the next generation. The goal is not only to inspire students in the short term, but to build relationships through a pipeline of future professionals who will bring heart, skills, knowledge, and expertise to fields across the nation.
“The return on investment,” as SFMA leaders see it, “is cultivating a new generation of skilled professionals and leaders who will keep fields everywhere thriving.”
Cultivating careers, one field at a time
Much like grass itself, what began as an idea planted at the SFMA Conference bloomed into an innovative pathway for students in California’s Central Valley, and an invaluable opportunity for LA Coliseum professionals to teach and give back.
Students saw an example of how industry leaders keep playing surfaces safe, healthy and green as could be. And for students who had never before attended a Division I College Football game and had only ever seen the LA Coliseum’s field on TV, tending to its playing surface was nothing short of unforgettable.
– Article provided by Dave Gossman
