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Screwball
- Dec 18, 2014
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- 63
This was a very windy tournament day of my daughter's. It was like this all day.
Field conditions - is this normal?
- Thread starter KrisHur
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radness
Possibilities & Opportunities!
- Dec 13, 2019
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Can remember playing in conditions like that where there were rocks the size of quarters being flung around.
guess not as dangerous as Lightning
cuz lightning we had to stop playing
- Oct 10, 2018
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Checked baseball facilities yesterday - no rocks, a couple little pebbles, nicely watered (or soil conditioners holding some moisture) and chalked and they didn't even have a game yesterday. Parents would be more than happy to get out there and drag the field - we're not allowed, "we'll take care of it" or "I'd do something but the coaches haven't complained". Our AD even turned away a donation we secured for dugout covers - after much complaining he bought them anyway and they have been sitting in a shed for over a month. Yesterday DD was hit in the head at practice, in the dugout, by a pop up - thankfully she happened to be wearing her batting helmet.
After a year of advocating for better facilities, and getting yessed to death, the softball boosters are getting ready to circulate a petition and file a title IX complaint with the BOE, Super, and AD. We have an ancient, poorly maintained facility with a broken sprinkler (for at least 2 years now) and baseball has everything - real dugouts (we have a rusty uncovered fence), they have a real outfield fence (we have a temp fence for the season), they have lights, water fountains, cameras, and ADA access to the bleachers - we have none of those. The MS uses the field for recess year-round, even though there is a field a 30 second walk away - it's "too far". We also have a new coach this year who only a handful of times submitted highlights to the local paper and doesn't know how to calculate a BA - included BB's in the calculation.... Sorry for the rant, I'm so frustrated - we have a 150M budget but they can't find a scrap of $ for the girls. Well they are going to have to.
The last tournament we played, it looked like that between every game when the crew ran out and dragged the field. My DD pitched on a field last night that had at least 6 inch mounds of sand on both sides of her landing foot. I've never seen so much sand come out of one shoe before.
- Jun 8, 2016
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Blowing dirt/dust is (unfortunately) common here in the spring in OK. As long as the tornado sirens don't go off in the middle of a game I'm good..
Thats the best way to do it, keep moving up the chain. If the school AD cant do anything then get a meeting with the school district superintendent. Bring evidence, pictures comparing the two places showing the unequally. Especially if the facility is not ada compliant with ramps, that is another big issue the school district wants to fix as that could be a lawsuit they would want to avoid.
Parents did a similar thing when a school district had 3 public schools and the school we were at had terrible conditions and facilities compared to the other schools who had newer and better softball facilities. They got a meeting with the superintendent and brought pictures and made a presentation. Also had no ramps for handicap people with no concrete walk paths. They found money to fix the issues like a brand new scoreboard, better netting for cages, fixed the no ramp issue, even updated the dugouts within a year i think. I remember they had no idea and were grateful that someone brought it too their attention.
- Jul 5, 2016
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Seems easy enough to apply calcium or magnesium chloride to fields to help with dust control.
- May 20, 2015
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haha we played on a "varsity" field yesterday that had more grass poking through the infield dirt than an abandoned field.......like over the entire field
the band of grass around edges of backstop in the field of play was 4-6" high and extended 3-4' out onto the field
first base: orange bag was 3" farther from home than white, and the white was 3" higher lol
and those were the good points........worst field we've ever played on, summers included
the band of grass around edges of backstop in the field of play was 4-6" high and extended 3-4' out onto the field
first base: orange bag was 3" farther from home than white, and the white was 3" higher lol
and those were the good points........worst field we've ever played on, summers included
I maintained the athletic fields at a small D3 school for several years. Turface or an off brand conditioner will help hold moisture, but when it gets really dry you will still have the same dust problem. Rocks can be controlled by having the team do a 'rock walk' before every practice. Eventually you can get them under control.
Everyone thinks that turf is maintenance free that is certainly not the case. The crumb rubber infill moves and must be broomed back into place, particularly where the players slide. And it must also be supplemented on a regular basis. The rubber keeps the fibers upright, if the fibers are allowed to lay over the sun will cause them to deteriorate and the turf will need to be replaced well before it's normal life span, and the warranty will not cover it unless you can provide proof of regular maintenance. And turf is HOT!! I don't know you deal with that in the South.
Everyone thinks that turf is maintenance free that is certainly not the case. The crumb rubber infill moves and must be broomed back into place, particularly where the players slide. And it must also be supplemented on a regular basis. The rubber keeps the fibers upright, if the fibers are allowed to lay over the sun will cause them to deteriorate and the turf will need to be replaced well before it's normal life span, and the warranty will not cover it unless you can provide proof of regular maintenance. And turf is HOT!! I don't know you deal with that in the South.
