TRAINING & EDUCATION
During the late 1980s, BBC’s Tomorrow’s World programme ran a regular feature called Tomorrow’s World 2020. It aimed to project the major issues and trends of the day, no doubt with an inevitable mixed level of success. As a young avid watcher, such a year seemed a long way off. But, somewhat excitingly here we are - the future, here, now, today! So, what does the reality of 2020 and beyond have in store for us as turf management professionals?
I
would suggest that two key ongoing fundamental principles will dominate 2020 and the oncoming decade ahead.
Permanence noun
“the state or quality of lasting or remaining unchanged indefinitely.”
Of course, if there ever was one core representation of permanence it is the permanence of change, but we will consider that later. In respects to turf management, many things will remain unchanged permanently, not only in 2020 but way beyond.
Plants will require adequate nutrition throughout the year, soils will need to be maintained in a manner which facilitates open pore spaces for the diffusion of oxygen in, and carbon dioxide and other waste gasses out. The same healthy soil structure will facilitate the penetration, percolation and retention of life giving water which, as a master variable within the system, is required to be present in adequate quantities throughout the year.
Soil and plant associated microorganisms will need to be encouraged and nurtured in a bid to foster a functional multifaceted plant-soil ecosystem. The functioning of this ecosystem will be determined by cause and effect, action and reaction, where every input or operation undertaken by the player or turf manager has an equal and opposite reaction. When we get the balance correct desirable plants will prosper, beneficial microorganisms will flourish and abiotic plant stress and abiotic pathogenic plant stress will be mitigated, reduced and avoided. All the above factors are now and forever will be the core principles underpinning a sports turf surface of consistent quality. As we enter a new year and prepare for the growing season ahead, it is worth taking some time to reflect on the fundamental simplicity of the factors outlined above. Individually, none of these principles is difficult to comprehend. The difficulty, of course, comes from the complexity arising from the interconnected and multifaceted dynamic relationship between each of the
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factors. Often, it seems from people there is a desire and a satisfaction to be gained from feeling as though one has control of the system one is managing. It may be helpful to reflect that such a notion can mask the truth. As turf managers, we manage the uncontrollable, the precisely undefinable. We manage within nature, and ‘manage’ is all we can be expected to achieve.
Manage
Definition 1 verb
“be in charge, control”
Definition 2 verb
“survive get by”
As with many words in the English language, manage can have multiple meanings, two of which are represented above. Of these two definitions, which most closely matches expectations and perceptions of how turf
Whilst many of the universal truths of sports turf
maintenance will not change, it is accurate to state that change is the greatest challenge society and sports turf management face over the next decade
managers undertake producing a surface to facilitate play, and which most closely matches the functional reality of the complex ecosystem we are responsible for? On one hand, the word manage is confident and definite, leading to feelings of control and order. ‘What do you do?’ asks person A. ‘I manage the system’ responds person B. On the other hand, it can be less confident or definite; ‘how are you getting on?’ asks person A. ‘Oh, I’m just about managing’ responds person B. Now, to be clear, I am not suggesting that the highly capable
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