Littick Field (top) and Roy Rike soccer field (right). Field Maintenance Improves Play at Ohio Wesleyan he Ohio Wesleyan University championship last year (1990) in penal- played on Littick field; women's field men's soccer team has been a ty kicks." hockey and lacrosse, which compete on Tcontender in the National This and other fields at the university Henry Street Field; and football, played Collegiate Athletic Association have not always been as "finely tuned" on Selby Field and the football practice Tournament every year since 1978. as the teams. field. After years of minimal maintenance, In 1978, after becoming a perma- "With the exception of the football the Roy Rike Field has finally reached nent faculty member, Martin inherited field," said Martin, "I was personally the same level of excellence, hosting the winning soccer team and six poorly responsible for maintaining all the fields. the 1990 Division III National maintained sports fields, including the My assistant coach and I would buy a bag Championship games. soccer field. Since then, he has helped the of fertilizer, throw it on and hope it According to John A. "Jay" Martin, soccer team maintain its high level of per- would work." Ph.D, athletic director for Ohio Wesleyan formance and initiated improvements on He added, "I also watered the fields University, the team has been top-notch all athletic fields. myself in the summer. They looked ter- since he joined the institution in 1977 as In addition to soccer, Ohio Wesleyan rible those first few years." a one-year replacement. "We lost the also offers a variety of sports that use the Martin indicated the fields were athletic fields. These include baseball, continued on page 24 January, 1992 23 Field Maintenance major problems on Roy Rike. "The field has not allocated a large amount of continued from page 23 has been in existence since the 1920's. money to maintain the athletic fields. receiving minimal maintenance due to It needed general maintenance and "That first year, the booster club raised a lack of funds, time and manpower. there were some low areas that had to between $4,500 and $6000. To get the The surfaces were rough, with a mixture be fixed." most out of the money, we put it to use of grasses. And the soccer and football In addition to the 1990 Division III on the sports fields along with some practice fields- those used the most National Soccer Championships, the funds from team budgets. received very little care. In 1989, Martin field is also used for the Central Ohio High "Our initial budget to refurbish Roy and Ohio Wesleyan turned to Dennis School All Star games, a number oflocal Rike and Henry Street fields was close Kasper of the O.M. Scott & Son's com- soccer clubs and summer soccer camps. to $8,000," said Martin. Ohio Wesleyan's pany's Schooll Sports fields division for "A professional team from Holland is filed maintenance budget has remained help. going to work out on it for two weeks in within those parameters. Even though "We decided to have Scotts work on mid-June," Martin added. they have fewer fields that need "over- our fields because of a test program at The Henry Street women's field hock- hauling," more fields now receive general Wooster College," said Martin. "We also ey/lacrosse field also takes some abuse. maintenance. chose Scotts because of the company's "There isn't a practice field for these According to Martin, the fields are proximity to the university, name recog- two sports," said Martin. "So the field gets much better since regular maintenance nition and special service program." daily use for two seasons of the year." The has become a priority, "Players, coach- According to Martin, Roy Rike Field university has hopes of adding a practice es and even alums notice that the fields and the Henry Street filed received all field for the teams. have improved a great deal." The uni- the attention the first year of service. Even with all the traffic on Roy Rike versity would like to do more with the All the fields - except for Selby, and Henry Street, Martin explains that fields, funds permitting, Martin indi- which has a sand base - are heavy on these fields need to be in top condition, cated. clay, according to Kasper. He is respon- "Field hockey and soccer differ from Martin has been with Ohio Wesleyan's sible for most general services on the football in that they're played with the athletic department for 14 years. fields. ball on the ground. The surface of the field Currently, he is the chair of the depart- "Our maintenance program includes is as important as any other factor in a ment and the men's varsity soccer coach. over-seeding, fertilizing, topdressing game. These should be the best two He has a doctorate in exercise physiol- and insect and weed control," said fields on campus. ogy from Ohio State University. Kasper. "Service-wise, we core aerify The teams have high caliber ath- Ohio Wesleyan University, founded each field. However, we consider soil letes. They play better because the fields in 1842 by the United Methodist Church, testing and subsoil crucial to mainte- are now level and smoother." Martin is located in Delaware, Ohio, 20 miles nance." added that the field hockey team has gone north of Columbus. A 200 acre campus, The subsoil decompactor is used to sub- to the National Tournament every year the liberal arts university has approxi- soil the fields. Unique, it breaks the since 1989. In addition to withstand- mately 2,000 students. Notable gradu- compaction of the soil without disturb- ing traffic and play, the fields have also ates include Norman Vincent Peale, '20, ing the surface. On it are 10-inch blades held up well in harsh winters and under clergyman and author; Branch Rickey, with "bullets" at the ends. Upon enter- heavy rains. '04 major league baseball executive; ing the ground, the blades vibrate at high He noted that having the fields main- and Jim Berry, '55, syndicated editori- frequencies, shattering the hard pan of tained by Kasper has also prevented al cartoonist. 0 the soil while the bullets cut channels administrative headaches. which increase drainage. The use of I'm not this machine holds moisture lower in the going to ask ground and attracts downward movement him to coach of the root systems. In addition, the my team, so fields are level and softer. I'm not going "Topdressing and oversee ding are to tell him also more effective after subsoiling and what he has core aerification." Scotts Sports Turf to do to Seed and a variety of methylene urea fer- maintain the tilizers, among other products are used fields. I don't at Ohio Wesleyan. have to Martin still waters the fields him- worry about self and has an outside contractor mow. the fields The fields are cut to a height ofthree inch- anymore," he es once a week in the summer and every added. three or four days during the school As a small year. In addition, Scotts cares for the university, infield on Littick Field. o h i 0 According to Martin, Scotts has solved We s ley a n Dr. Jay Martin (left) and Dennis Kasper. 24 Golf & sporlsTURF.