Cranfield students on a field trip at Towcester Racecourse - left to right: Back row: Placido ‘Kete’ Zarco (Spain), Jorge Garcia Morillo (Spain), Stefan Sheraton (England). MIddle row: Darra Hudner (Republic of Ireland), Michael Dufour (Cranfield Uni), Alejandro ‘Alex’ Reyes Cirera (Spain), Marie Gazan (France), Lukasz Romanowski (Poland), Martin Stanhope (England). Front row: Carlos Arroyal Millan (Spain), Rui Mendes-Pinto (Portugal)
Variously studying NVQs, HNDs BScs in Geology, Agronomy, Greenkeeping, Biochemistry and Golf Course Management
STUDENTLife
Nothing stays the same forever. Maintaining the swathes of grass on which our existing and budding sports stars perform may seem to those outside the industry as crafts steeped in age-o practices pursued by die-h
old hard ‘salts of the earth’.
The reality is startlingly different, however, as technology and scientific knowledge play an increasingly important role in a burgeoning billion pound-p
plus marketplace.
The pace of change and demand for ever improving, quality surfaces have sparked councils and clubs across the country to confront the urgent requirement for young, freshminds to take the industry through the 21st century.
And it’s the educational progress of some of those fresh young minds that Pitchcare is charting as they make their way
through their
apprenticeships and various levels of qualification to move into positions where they can make their own mark on tomorrow’s industry.
We’ll be monitoring three students, each at different educational levels, and each intending to take on different roles within the industry. Periodically, we’ll report on their experiences, both in the college setting and in their work places, comparing and contrasting their views and opinions of their college work and their day jobs.
In this first article, we introduce our three students, who explain why they are taking their chosen courses, what they think of the industry they work in and how they might fashion change within it.
Student: Stefan Sheraton Age: 28 Position: Full-time student Place of study: Cranfield University
STEFAN Sheraton has just started a year’s full-time MSC course at Cranfield University in sportsturf technology after spending nine years working his way up at Wisley Golf Course in Surrey and acquiring the golf bug after completing work experience at a local course when still at school.
It was mainly word of mouth that
prompted Stefan to enter the industry. “I’d heard of the IOG and BIGGA through school and my parents helped me pick appropriate colleges to apply to.” He began as an apprentice at
Wisley, moving up to second then first assistant under the course manager, before becoming a spray technician, a job he held for two and a half years.
“I felt that I had hit a brick wall and that I had nowhere else to go at the club,” Stefan recalls. “I needed to better myself.” Stefan had completed his National Diploma in sportsturf management before gaining his National Certificate and NVQ Levels 1 and 2 in basic
horticulture and in sportsturf management.
The MSc course is a tough step to
take, Stefan admits, but one that, once taken, will be the springboard for further progression in the industry, he believes. “The qualification should enable me to take a job as a course manager or to set up as a consultant to the industry,” he says. “Practical things appeal to me most,” says Stefan, “certainly until I’m in my 40s, when something on paper, hopefully, will help me land a desk job.”
But golf is his first love. “I’d like to be back on a course eventually. There’s more money in the golf sector,” he says, “although wage scales in the private schools sector are moving nearer parity.” Groundsmanship desperately needs to change the perception of it held by the public, Stefan believes. “Too many people still think groundsmen just cut the grass. They have to start appreciating that groundsmen are practical scientists and engineers. The number of specialist areas we manage has to be portrayed more widely. The industry needs greater recognition. After all, it’s those with practical skills that make the world go around.”
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