Assistant Athletics Director, Sports Fields for Texas A&M Athletics. Certified Sports Field Manager. Views expressed are my own & not that of my employer.
When the water line that feeds the entire stadium breaks 4 hours before first pitch, you improvise a way to get a pregame water on the infield dirt!
#usewhatyougot
First lines of the fall went down on Kyle Field today. That can only mean one thing…..
@AggieFootball
season is upon us! Our crew with
@aggiefieldstaff
has been crushing it all summer so we’re almost ready to go!
Very few field manager’s get to build the type of relationship Rob & I developed over our years together. ALWAYS treated me & my crew with dignity, respect & included us as a part of the team. Also opened his arms to Holly & I from day one & treated us like family.
#ClassAct
"Coach Childress is a great man and we appreciate his long-term dedication to Texas A&M and for leading our baseball program with class and dignity in every phase..."
I’ve said it before and I will say it again. I will take my crew every single day of the week with complete confidence that they will rise to the challenge and get the job done! 💪
Day 2 of painting is in the books. Mother Nature is certainly keeping us on our toes but the crew continues to step up to the occasion. Tomorrow will be a second coat on all the logos and Friday will be left for touch up work. After that…
@AggieFootball
GAMEDAY
I never like to let good grass go to waste, so we are repurposing the grass from last night’s match & laying it over the infield surface at our old softball complex. This will create an expanded area for
@AggieSoccer
to utilize for drills, training, S&C, & small set pieces.
2nd half was played after heavy rain with off & on drizzle, followed by another heavy rain postgame. Games played in wet conditions can cause significantly more damage. Quick bayonet aerification to help the field breath, move water, & recover followed by a light roll & mow.
It was a busy morning at Olsen Field this morning backfilling and rolling edges to ensure a smooth transition from grass to dirt. Trying to make final preparations for the start of the fall season for
@AggieBaseball
next week!
Yesterday was inside edges and the back arc of the infield dirt. Today we finished backfilling the outside edges and baselines. Olsen Field is pretty much ready to go for the start of fall practice for
@AggieBaseball
on Monday!
Match day for Brazil vs Mexico at Kyle Field has finally arrived. Fresh coat of paint already down, some final field detail work and we’ll be ready to play some futbol!
In other news, today was
@ag90turfgrass
’ last day before retiring from
@12thMan
after 27 years! One of the GOAT’s of sportsfield management
@FieldExperts
! To quote Tim McGraw, “the ending of an era and the turning of a page”. Thanks for everything Craig and happy retirement!
If you build it, he will come...
Field manager Nick McKenna was bestowed the honor of serving on the grounds crew for Thursday's
#MLBatFieldofDreams
game! 👏🧢🆙
@aggiefieldguy
|
#GigEm
Wrapped up another successful football season for the
@aggiefieldstaff
. Can’t thank these guys enough for all that they do! Very few people see or even recognize the amount of time, effort, energy, & work that they put into ALL of our fields. Next up, Spring sports!
#BTHOEveryone
Almost 6 inches of rain since 2:00pm today. Incredible job by the
@aggiefieldstaff
getting the field ready for the game tonight. Now it’s time to
#BTHO
Arkansas.
Had a great stroll with
@drewsky18
yesterday knocking some holes on
@AggieFootball
’s practice fields. Lots of extra wear & tear this year due to construction. This week is the biggest break these fields have until our bye week in Oct. Next up, burying them in 100+ tons of sand!
What an incredible honor it was for me to work with this group for the past 3 days to help execute the
#MLBatFieldofDreams
game! Thank you to
@cookmurray
& co. for allowing me to play a small part in that endeavor!
Another home football season in the books. I’ll go to battle with this crew anytime! So thankful for each one of these individuals! Couldn’t accomplish what we do without their hard work and dedication every day.
Had a little extra help this morning from the head man himself. Thanks for coming out this morning
@RossBjorkAD
and giving Kyle Field a fresh cut as we prepare for the first
@AggieFootball
game of the season!
#BTHONewMexico
It’s beginning to get really real now! T-minus 5 days until our international soccer match between Mexico & Brazil on the hallowed grounds of Kyle Field!
Last
@AggieBaseball
regular season game of the year. The field is a little battered and bruised but overall it’s been a great season! Shout out to my crew
@aggiefieldstaff
I’ll put y’all up against anyone in the country!
“Patience is a virtue”. I frequently remind myself of that & to trust the process of what we’re doing, especially when a large portion of our “success” depends on cooperation from Mother Nature & athletes/coaches. Every once in a while the process rewards us for our patience!👀😍
1️⃣ more time for the year! We’re a little dinged up from our rain game last week (mostly from the band) but all in all, Kyle Field is in great shape for
@AggieFootball
to
#BTHOLSU
! I can’t thank my
@aggiefieldstaff
team enough for all their hard work, effort & energy this season!
And that’s a wrap for today! Western field extension installation completed. We will get it painted and striped up tomorrow and let
@Aggiefootball
have it!
Not quite the result that we wanted but we move on and start preparing for the next one. A little postgame mow with baskets, spray foliar fertilization, and irrigation to begin the recovery process. Only 7 days to get ready for
@AggieFootball
to BTHOMiami!
Signs that
@AggieFootball
is getting close to finally returning to Aggieland for a home game…when
@aggiefieldstaff
starts lining Kyle Field. ✅ We have ourselves a football field again!
Different day, same story! Our team of people with
@aggiefieldstaff
are phenomenal! They rise to the challenge every single time I throw one at them! Huge shout out to the
@AggieBaseball
players parents (and others) that were helping us haul buckets over the wall!
#Undefeated
Team effort here at Blue Bell:
@aggiefieldstaff
pumping water from the grass into buckets and handing it over the fence to parents/fans who are dumping it off the field.
Everyone give
@aggiefieldguy
and his folks some love.
My crew did it again! We’ve been patiently preparing and waiting for
@AggieFootball
to return to Kyle Field. As usual,
@aggiefieldstaff
knocked it out of the park and has Kyle ready for the Ags to
#BTHOolemiss
! 💪
.
@aggiefieldstaff
got the tarp pulled at Blue Bell Park just before the heavens opened up. Tip of the cap to the whole crew that got caught in the downpour. From experience, pulling tarp is serious business.
This is why you need a true warning track surface & not just a change in the carpet color! Change in texture & sound serve as a warning to athletes & help prevent injuries like this. Hate to see this happen to a great guy (& Aggie) like
@TyNaquin
! Hoping for a speedy recovery!
Once in a while we get to do something cool that’s not related to sports fields. It’s an honor to help the
@BushFdn
celebrate what would be George H.W. Bush’s 100th birthday by painting this logo. Service to others was important to 41 & I can’t think of a better way to give back!
Sometimes it’s the simplest things in life that are the best! Brought my buddy Murphy along to check on the field after the rains this weekend. I think he is in heaven!
@WeLoveDogsUSA
@dog_rates
@DogsOfTurf
Time to finish out our practice field expansion project! The sod that is used for this project comes in rolls that are 3.5’ wide, 50’ long & 1.5” thick w/ each roll weighing close to 3000 pounds! This allows us to install the grass today & let
@AggieFootball
play on it tomorrow!
My favorite thing from all these photos is if you zoom in you still see smiles on the faces of our crew members despite the daunting job they were being tasked with. They continuously rise to the challenge and find ways to enjoy it while doing so!
#LaborOfLove
#AboveAndBeyond
Took some extra time today to get a few of our student assistants a little bit of experience on the end of a paint gun. Our students are an integral part of EVERYTHING that our crew does. We couldn’t support our teams and student athletes the way we do without them!
#TrainingDay
Day 2 of Operation Put Kyle Field Back Together. Started the day w/ all the grass removed from the construction zone & finished it w/ the surface rough graded. Tomorrow will begin fine detail leveling, reinstallation of irrigation heads & a finish grade floated out over the area.
What a crew. What a year. Kyle Field played incredibly all year and it wouldn’t be possible without every single person (and some not pictured) in this picture! Gig’Em!👍🏼
Thankful to the entire
@aggiefieldstaff
crew for all their hard work in making sure Kyle Field is safe and playable for
@AggieFootball
every week! Making it look good as well is just the icing on the cake! Also nice having a leader that recognizes what we do! 🫡
Extremely proud of my team for their hard work & dedication to pull everything together at exactly the right time! It’s been an eventful year so far around
@AggieAthletics
w/ all the construction going on & our
@aggiefieldstaff
crew powered through it all. Let’s BTHO New Mexico!
6 walk thru’s, 1 full practice, and 3 scrimmages on Kyle since August 2nd. It’s been a hell of a summer but man I couldn’t be happier with where we are.
@AggieFootball
is BACK!👍🏼
#BTHOnewmexico
Time for another round of cultural practices! Got to beat it up to make it look better! The crew knocked out the vertical mowing on Olsen Field today. This process helps to remove thatch & promotes more lateral growth & improved density of the field.
#PoorMansFrazeMow
@drewsky18
getting a fresh cut on Kyle Field this morning before we start throwing down some more paint. Had a few casualties of war yesterday due to the rain but they will get touched back up before the week is over in preparation for
@AggieFootball
to
#BTHOSamHoustonSt
!
IOWA, here I come! Wheels up to spend the week working on the field for the
#MLBatFieldOfDreams
game again! 🛫Looking forward to another fantastic experience although it will be hard to top last year!
#WalkOff
It’s been a looong summer for our practice fields due to construction logistics! Starting the morning out right with
@CgcChad
and
@CarolinaGreenCo
doing a little patchwork on the Coolidge Practice Fields in preparation for the first
@AggieFootball
fall practice tomorrow. 👍