January Newsletter – Renovation Season Begins

January is often a month where a lot is going on behind the scenes in the baseball and softball world.  In professional baseball, it’s often tied to free agency.  In college, winter workouts and scrimmages.  In high school and little league, tryouts and workouts as well.  Also, many field managers are either preparing their fields for play or starting to think about what projects will need to be finished before long.  It’s a time for trade shows, like the SFMA Conference, among other local and regional clinics too.  Although it isn’t always a big month for playing the game, it is no less important.  Behind the scenes, we are fielding phone calls, visiting fields and our Homefield Crews are hard at work renovating ballfields in the warmer reaches of the United States as crunch time is here for places like Florida, with players soon arriving for Spring Training. We’re going to dive in with updates on some of the projects our Homefield Crews and friends have been up to.

Spotlight Install: The University of North Florida

This time of year, baseball and softball are usually on the backburner.  However, in warm climates things are starting to ramp up in preparations for the upcoming seasons.  Our Homefield crews are spread out across the Southern and Western U.S. getting fields ready to play. One of our crews are currently down in the Sunshine State, working to help get these fields ready for the fast-approaching season.  Most recently, they just finished up an overhaul at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville.  Their Superintendent of Athletic Grounds, Corey Levine, shares his experience:

Over 100 Years of Groundskeeper Experience: Get to know our experts

At DuraEdge Products we are fortunate to have a great business development team which includes four individuals with career backgrounds as professional groundskeepers in the MLB and MiLB ranks. Their collective wealth of experience creates the foundation for our success in the infield mix realm and provides field care perspectives that only each of them…

Interview With An Installer: Tyler Woak

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…

Interview With An Installer: Jason Jacobs

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…

Interview With An Installer: Travis Beatty

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…

Interview With An Installer: Cameron Toone

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…

Interview With An Installer: Mike Viersma

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…

Interview With An Installer: Mike Robinson

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. …

Interview With An Installer: Steve Trosen

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…