‘GRASS ROOTS’ OPENS AT MARYLAND SOCCERPLEX

By Suz Trusty

On May 3, 2017, the official ribbon cutting ceremony opened ‘Grass Roots’ at the Maryland SoccerPlex. “Remind me again, what is Grass Roots?” from the SoccerPlex enewsletter provides this background. “Te National Arboretum, in partnership with the National Turfgrass Federation (NTF) and the USDA, created an interactive exhibit at the National Arboretum in Washington, D.C. entitled Te Grass Roots Initiative: A Science Based Focus on Turfgrass to help educate the public about turfgrass. Te exhibit is a live, interactive, outdoor exhibit that is currently at the National Arboretum. Te exhibit features the history of grass, fertilization practices, irrigation timing, tips for home lawn care, lawn care equipment and so much more.

“In 2015 we contacted the National Arboretum to see if they could create a satellite Grass Roots exhibit at the SoccerPlex. Why? Well because who likes grass more than us?”

Te Maryland SoccerPlex, located in Boyds, MD, is about 40 miles from Washington, DC. It features a combination of 24 regulation-sized soccer fields, the award-winning stadium field, Maureen Hendricks Field, and the Discovery Sports Center, the largest open indoor space in Montgomery County. It hosts soccer play ranging from youth leagues to international professional teams.

Soccer competition there draws 600,000 visitors to the facility annually. With an opportunity to share the benefits of natural grass with all those people, of course, the answer was yes.

Work that began in the spring of 2016 was crowd- ready for the grand opening. Weather was perfect and approximately 50 attended, according to Geoffrey Rinehart, Grass Roots Initiative coordinator. “A few executive council members and county extension personnel were in that group. It attracted good media attention, too, including two local television stations.”

Rainy weather made the public grand opening on Saturday, May 6, less successful. But, Rinehart reports, he and Kevin Morris, NTF president and executive director of the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program (NTEP), will join Ryan Bjorn, SoccerPlex Director of Grounds & Environmental Management, on a busier Saturday to interact with the public and field technical turfgrass-related questions.

Te location is ideal: in front of the ticket booth on the south lawn of the SoccerPlex’s stadium field. Tere’s much for show and tell. Ten exhibits, spread across

50 Te ribbon cutting ceremony for ‘Grass Roots’ at the Maryland SoccerPlex.

nearly an acre, include a fertilization display explaining best management practices (BMP); an exhibit showing the different parts of an irrigation system and a pressure display demonstrating how the larger droplets are more effective in getting the water on target.

Rinehart says, “Te four sports fields are each about 17 feet by 25 feet, showing three grasses—Latitude 36, HGT, and Zeon zoysia—and a synthetic turf surface. Ryan is planning to let the younger players, kindergarten to third grade, warm up on them.”

Tere’s a lawn grasses display showcasing six warm- season grasses: Zenith zoysiagrass, Raleigh St. Augustine, TifBlair centipedegrass, Legacy buffalograss, Sovereign bermudagrass, and SeaStar seashore paspalum; and five cool-season grasses: a blend of tall fescue and bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, fine fescue, and Kentucky bluegrass. Rinehart adds, “Even though we don’t have a golf hole display like at the Arboretum, we wanted to include a “golf grass” so we have ‘007’ creeping bentgrass, but mowed at a lawn height, as the fifth variety in the cool-season lawn display.”

In her Executive Director’s Turf column in the May/June issue of Turf News, Sandy Reynolds detailed the support that TPI turfgrass producers and Te Lawn Institute (TLI) have provided to the Grass Roots Initiative. Morris and Rinehart extend their gratitude for that support. Working together, the industry continues tos to spread the word on the benefits of natural grass.

Suz Trusty is co-editor of Turf News Photo courtesy of ‘Grass Roots.’

TPI Turf News July/August 2017