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Membership Matters

Membership Matters

Congratulations to New England’s own Kyle Calhoon, Sports Turf Manager at the Hartford Yard Goats in Hartford, Connecticut, for being selected as STMA’s sixth annual “Mowing Patterns Contest” winner. Calhoon was selected via a Facebook voting contest from October 22 to November 23 for his intricate design at Dunkin’ Donuts Park, home to the Hartford Yard Goats (Double-A, Colorado Rockies).

With expansive previous experience in Major League Baseball (Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees) and the National Football League, he most recently held the position of Grounds Manager for the San Francisco 49ers before joining the Hartford Yard Goats in 2016. In 2017 and 2018, Kyle received the Diamond Pro Eastern League Sports Field Manager of the Year award. Calhoon graduated from Penn State University with a certificate of Turfgrass Management. Calhoon’s design was produced as a custom poster and featured at the 2018 STMA Conference & Exhibition in Phoenix, Arizona in January.

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STMA Conference & Expo

The 30th Annual STMA Conference and Expo was held January 22 – 25, 2019 in Phoenix, Arizona. “Elevate Your Career” was the theme of the conference that was filled with informative seminars, innovative exhibits, local stadium tours, and great social events. NESTMA’s own Ben Polimer presented on “Smart Irrigation: Navigating the Market for your Facility” and Ian Lacy led two COTS sessions for chapter leaders from across the country.

Defining Terminology

STMA is recommending that sports turf professionals refer to their turfgrass fields as “natural grass fields” and to artificial surfaces as “synthetic turf fields”. NESTMA will adopt this nomenclature as well. It is intended to help non-technical audiences — parents, coaches, athletic directors — better understand the types of playing surfaces and educate them on how to accurately reference them.

Echo Robotics Wins STMA Innovation Award

STMA awarded ECHO Robotics its Innovative Award for their Autonomous Mower TM-2000. The self-driving, selfcharging, self-sufficient unit mows up to 5 acres of turf efficiently while finely mulching clippings to promote turf health. Eight times more efficient than traditional units, this mower saves time and labor for facility managers, and can be remotely commanded via web platform or mobile app.

STMA’s Innovative Award Program recognizes STMA commercial company members who’ve developed a product, service, equipment or technology that substantially enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of the sports turf manager and/or makes the playing surfaces safer and/or more playable for athletes. Chosen by STMA’s Innovative Awards Task Group, entries are evaluated on a wide range of qualities including whether or not they fill a need, are creative, save time and resources, are cutting-edge, make a task easier or more productive, improve quality, protect the environment, and improve efficiency. Learn more at echorobotics.com.

NESTMA is a proud chapter of the Sports Turf Managers Association. Contact STMA at stma.org or (800) 323-3875.

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