IT TAKES TEAMWORK By Suz Trusty based on interviews with Casey Carrick and Chad Price and background information on the project
You’ve heard the story—Kenan Memorial Stadium, home of the University of North Carolina (UNC) Tar Heels football team—kept natural grass for a double whammy of practices and games for the 2017-2018 and the 2018- 2019 football seasons. You’ve heard the process—overnight field removal and replacement with Carolina Green’s GameonGrassTM
, the proprietary turfgrass sod, grown
on plastic, the company has developed for such use. And you’ve heard the outcome—Success! Great playing conditions for the players at less cost than anticipated.
Here’s the story behind the story; how a forward- thinking University and a forward-thinking field construction company/turfgrass sod producer used excellent communication and 100-percent transparency to make it happen.
The Players
Casey Carrick, CSFM, is director of athletic grounds and turf management for UNC.
Casey Carrick, CSFM, is director of athletic grounds and turf management for UNC in Chapel Hill, about 30 miles northeast of Raleigh. He’s a graduate of North Carolina State University’s turfgrass management program and a Certified Sports Field Manager (CSFM) through the Sports Turf Managers Association (STMA). He and his staff of nine full-time and two part-time personnel manage 16 acres of natural grass and 11 acres of synthetic turf athletic fields covering the sports of football, soccer, lacrosse, field hockey, baseball, softball, and track and field.
Chad Price, CSF, CFB, is co-owner of Carolina Green Corp.
42 Tis shows the Kenan Memorial Stadium football field on August 25, 2017.
Carrick says, “My assistant, AJ Congelli, is also a NCSU graduate. He’s been with me for six years. AJ and our staff are great team members, totally dedicated to the work we do, and to providing the best possible playing surfaces for our players. Teir buy-in was essential to tackling this venture.”
TPI member Chad Price, CSFM, CFB, is co-owner with his wife, Kerry, of Carolina Green Corp. in Indian Trail, North Carolina, about 16 miles southwest of Charlotte. Price is a graduate of Virginia Tech’s agronomy and crop science program; a CSFM through STMA; and a Certified Field Builder (CFB), for both natural grass and synthetic turf fields, through the American Sports Builders Association (ASBA).
Te dual roles of sod producer and athletic field builder are synergetic for Carolina Green and doubly beneficial for its clients. Price says, “Te field building opens the door for a lot of our work as a sod producer and our sod production also helps us get those field construction jobs. Understanding the performance demands of a natural grass athletic field led to our development of our own trademarked instant play sod grown on plastic—GameOnGrassTM
.”
Nearly all of Carolina Green’s sod production is used on athletic fields, though they sell a small amount for landscape and commercial turf applications. Price says, “We’re not a big sod farm. We grow about 300 acres of standard sod and about 60 acres of GameOnGrass. It’s a very intensive crop for the specific use of instant play on athletic fields. We install it and sell to other field construction companies for their installations.”
TPI Turf News January/February 2019
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