WRITTEN BY: Luke Yoder
When DuraEdge Engineered Soils are properly installed they have been proven to improve safety, consistency, playability, and help mitigate costly rainouts. A DuraEdge surface will also decrease maintenance moving forward because of the soil’s ability to eliminate migration and deliver quicker re-entry following rain events with less conditioner required.
How did you get into the sports turf industry? I worked with the Mahoning Valley Scrappers since I was fourteen. I started there as a bat boy and worked my way up to Assistant Clubhouse Manager. The former head groundskeeper, Ryan, was looking for an intern to help him for a spring season when I…
How did you get into the sports turf industry? Taking care of baseball fields is something I’ve done since I was fifteen. I worked for my hometown, taking care of about ten fields. Originally I went to school and got a degree in Sports Administration as kind of a fall back plan. Afterwards, I interned…
How did you get into the sports turf industry? My dad has worked with Grant (McKnight) on and off since before I was born. When he started Natural Sand Company and then DuraEdge my dad started working there again. I started working at the plant bagging product. Then I began working on the construction side…
How did you get into the sports turf industry? I started out on the residential landscaping side of things. Through working in landscaping, I was introduced to a local sod company and another company in sports turf. What really got me started was job shadowing them to start learning that world. I eventually worked my…
How did you get into the sports turf industry? I worked in my family’s construction company to begin my career. In time, we started building ballfields and saw a need in specialized sports care work. Did you have any mentors in the industry? Definitely my parents, Bob and Theresa Viersma. They always encouraged me…
How did you get into the sports turf industry? I got into the green care industry in 1981, the year my son was born. When I started my career I ran some lawn care companies. But after doing that for a while and going to educational classes, I got bored and wanted something new. …
How did you get into the sports turf industry? Coming from an extensive landscaping background it led me to pursue a career in a similar field. Out of high school I worked for a landscaping company that was a sister company to my family’s tree service business, soon after that transitioning to my first job…
How did you get into the sports turf industry? I’ve really been landscaping my entire life. When I was growing up, my stepdad maintained community gardens around Pittsburgh. I would help out and that was really how it started. After getting out of high school, I moved to California and started working in the golf…
The coronavirus pandemic is unprecedented in our country and industry. Around the country there are various levels of restrictions as to who is able to work. For many of us it has meant less time looking over our ballfields. There are still plenty of things we can be doing if we are working or quarantined…
Set your levels of tolerance. Communicate your standards. Enforce your policies. Most of all, replace the word “FINE” with “GOOD” and you will be just fine.
The current situation regarding coronavirus (COVID-19) is unprecedented and overall disconcerting. As things seem to be ever-changing and evolving almost hourly, we want to share actions we are currently taking as a business.
The DuraEdge Blog 