Educational Establishments
Thomas Wilson
was the hardest worker I know and a perfectionist. He made groundsmanship look effortless, and I will always strive to be as good as him.
Are you responsible for budgets or do you report to someone else?
I am in complete control of my budgets. We use a SAP system that allows me to build a yearly report on how and where we are going to spend our money. When I took over my budget, it took me right out of my comfort zone, I wasn’t one to sit behind a computer; I’m a hands on person! But, with a bit of help and advice from my director, I managed to learn it very quickly.
My budget is always tight, so I am always looking at the most cost effective way to produce the best grounds I can. I have a monthly head to head meeting with my Sports Director, Colin Hide, and a monthly budget meeting with senior managers.
What additional staff do you have?
Chris Vickerman (35) is our Senior Groundsman at the Manor Road grounds. He has been with us eight years. Tom Hoegger (28) is Senior Groundsman at the Stoughton Road grounds. He joined us recently from
The University of Leicester groundstaff l-r: Chris Vickerman, Adam Tester and Tom Hoegger
Leicester Tigers RFC. Finally, there’s Thomas Wilson (24) who is a part time groundsman with five year’s service. I am very pleased with the team I have around me. They are all very hard working lads with an eye for detail. With such a small team, and having two sites, we all have to be pulling in the same direction because, at times, it can all get a little stressful.
What additional help to you get?
We have contractors carry out our end of season renovations. Companies we use include Hewitts, Pugh Lewis, ALS and Technical Turf. If I ever have any problems or need advice, I am very close to Andy Ward at Grace Road and Ed Mowe at St George’s; they are always at the end of a phone to help when needed. I love to meet people in the industry and chat about work.
How would you describe the soil profile?
We have a very heavy clay soil profile (which I think is common across Leicestershire) at both of our sites. This is why, yearly, we have sixty tonnes of sand put on to the pitches to try and achieve a better draining profile.
Our spiking regime is very important because of this; we slit and solid tine regularly. We
borrow a verti-drain every two or three months, depending on when we can get it. Over the last six year, we have slowly managed to get on top of this clay issue and now have pitches that rarely get over wet. As a result, we have seen the cancellation of fixtures drop massively in recent years. We still have problem areas but, hopefully, they will be eradicated over the next few years.
Are your pitches used by the community or hired out to outside agencies?
We have a lot of external use on our grounds. Since the last article in 2009, we have had Leicester City Football Club using our facilities whilst their training ground was being redeveloped. Others have included Leicester Tigers first team, Cardiff Blues rugby team, the Iceland national football team, Leicester Tigers academy, Leicester Ladies academy, England rounders, national softball competitions, blind cricket festivals and many external schools and football clubs. We even have a Leicester City legend, Muzzy Izzet, use our pitches for one to one training sessions.
It’s the part of the job I enjoy most; having professional clubs use and give good feedback on the grounds.
70 I PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015
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