Sports Turf Manager Association

This program is sponsored by Bayer Environmental Sciences; Carolina Green Corp.; Covermaster, Inc; Hunter Industries; Jacobsen, A Textron Company; Nu-Gro Technologies, Inc.; Turface; Turf-Seed, Inc.; and World Class Athletic Surfaces. These sponsors fund a registration to the annual STMA Conference and Exhibition for each award winner, hotel costs up to $500, and signature clothing for the award winners and their staff. The winning fields are also featured in an article in SportsTurf Magazine. Apply today and be recognized for the work you do!

Chapter Development fund request forms are due Nov. 1 to STMA headquarters. Through the sponsorship by John Deere, Alpine, Hunter, Stabilizer and Syngenta, chapters can request up to $500 to reimburse expenses for educational programs and for the overall betterment of the chapter. Expenses that now qualify include reimbursement for out-of-pocket costs incurred for chapter community service projects, i.e. field renovations, and for funding a Student Challenge Team’s expenses to attend the annual conference.


STMA Sponsors New Turfgrass Course

The University of Georgia, with the support of STMA, is offering the Sports Turfgrass Management Certificate Course , a new distance learning course with up-to-date information on the establishment and care of sports fields.

The course typically takes between four and 18 months to complete. Upon completion, participants will be awarded a Certificate of Completion and 14 University of Georgia Continuing Education Units (CEUs), equivalent to 140 hours of training. STMA will award 1 education point towards eligibility to become a Certified Sports Field Manager (CSFM), and current CSFM's earn 1.5 CEUs upon completion of this program.


What if a Board Member Changes Categories?

The proposed Bylaws revisions clarify a process for board members who change employment, which affects the category they were elected to represent. Becoming unemployed while holding a position on the board is also clearly addressed. The new language specifies the time limit to resign or become employed for a board member in one of these situations. No changes were made in the process to fill the vacancy – it remains the President’s responsibility to appoint a replacement board member.


Student Challenge Expands

The annual STMA Student Challenge, presented in partnership with the SAFE Foundation, and supported by Platinum level sponsor Hunter Industries, is expanding in three directions. The Student Challenge will be conducted at the annual STMA Conference on Fri., Jan. 19, 2007, in San Antonio, Tex.

First, the Challenge is adding a new section to the test – a Case Study. Students will be given the framework and examples of the Case Study question in the practice exam, which will be available on the STMA web site later this month. A team of Certified Sports Field Managers developed the case study. The test time of two hours will stay the same. The Student Challenge Committee is reducing the number of exam questions to allow ample time for this new section.

Second, the SAFE Foundation is funding two $4,000 awards: one to the winning 2-year team and one to the winning 4-year team. The funds are to be used to create an athletic sports field learning lab for hands-on education at that school or to purchase athletic sports field specific equipment and products. Information will be sent to all student members and their advisors later this month.

Lastly, the trophies have been enhanced. The two winning teams’ names will be inscribed on a traveling trophy that stays with STMA headquarters and travels to the annual conference. The winning teams will each receive one replica of the traveling trophy for display at their school and the second and third place teams will receive plaques. All winners will receive individual medallions.


STMA Sponsors Sports Turf Track

For a second year, STMA has teamed with Green Industry Education to sponsor the sports turf track at the Lands Conference, which is held in conjunction with the International Lawn, Garden and Power Equipment Exposition on October 6-8 in Louisville, Ky.
Participants can attend the sessions in person at the Kentucky Fair Expo Center or on line. Three sports turf-specific sessions are being presented:

• Water Quality Issues in Sports Fields, 9:30 – 11:30 a.m. EST, presented by Shoumo Mitra, Ph.D., Cal. State Polytechnic University, Pomona and Mike Huck, Irrigation and Turfgrass Services
• Technology Update for Sports Fields, 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. EST, presented by Tom Samples, Ph.D., University of Tennessee and Bill Paproki, Stabilizer Solutions
• Practical Maintenance of Sports Fields, 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. EST, presented by Trent Hale, Ph.D., All Star Turf, Inc. and Dale Getz, The Toro Company.

For more information or to register, click here .

To start, take a tip from consultants who coach executives and politicians on how to handle media interviews. These trainers say you can deliver the message you want to an employer, regardless of the question you're asked.

"Most people don't realize that their purpose isn't to sit there and hope the right questions will be asked," says Aileen Pincus, president of the Pincus Group, a media interview-training firm in Silver Spring, Md. "They need to develop two or three key messages and make sure their point is delivered."

Interview-Prep Tool Use this interactive tool to get ready for your next big job meeting.

Unlike some politicians who ignore press questions and immediately introduce a different topic in response, job candidates must respect and directly answer employer's queries, says Jeff Braun, vice president and general manager of the Ammerman Experience, a Stafford, Texas, media interview-training firm. However, you can quickly make the transition from your answer to the important points you want to convey about your qualifications, he says.

He suggests when answering job-interview queries applying the formula Q = A + 1: Q is the question; A is the answer; + is the bridge to the message you want to deliver; and 1 is the point you want to make.

"If you take the '+ 1' off the formula, then the interviewer is controlling the session," says Mr. Braun.

Diligent preparation also is necessary to effectively answer any interview question, say senior executives. Theirs and media trainers' tips follow:

Study hard. Learn as much as you can about the job, the employer and its executives beforehand. Use this information to answer direct questions and to then segue into a discussion about your qualifications and fit.

Eric Herzog, a vice president of product line management and channel marketing at Maxtor Corp., a hard-disk drive company in Milpitas, Calif., says he always talks to current and former company employees and analysts whenever possible prior to job interviews to gain as much insight as he can into the employer's challenges and culture. If the company is publicly owned, he studies its financial condition by reading U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission documents, such as annual 10-K shareholder reports on the company's performance. He then tailors his interview answers to the company's issues.

"If the company is having a rough time financially, you can say that not only did you make good products or services, but that you produced things on time and under budget," says Mr. Herzog. "That's a little plus if the company is in trouble."

If you're working with a recruiter, ask him or her about what the company is seeking and its key challenges, says Derek Messulam, vice president of rental market development for GE-Capital Solutions, a financial-services unit of General Electric Co. in Norwalk, Conn. Mr. Messulam says he grills recruiters regarding a job's responsibilities and the attributes the company wants before job interviews. He then makes sure that his answers demonstrate his potential value to an employer.

"When questions come up, you can steer the conversation to how you can demonstrate value," says Mr. Messulam. "You answer the question, but maybe not 100% the way they were expecting it."

Have anecdotes ready.Many interviewers ask questions that require candidates to provide examples of how they handled a difficult challenge or other work situation. Such questions often start with a phrase such as, "Tell me about a time when you faced...."

These questions require a story in response, but it's unlikely you have a story that fits every conceivable query. But the task of preparing becomes easier when you realize that interviewers typically are interested in only five or six general categories, says Mr. Braun. Instead of trying to be ready for every potential question, come up with stories to fit these general issues, such as how you handled conflict or a difficult challenge.

It may help to think of each issue as a bucket and mentally place a story or two in each one, says Mr. Braun. "Be more generic in your approach," he suggests. "When asked a question along one of those lines, you can move to the story you have in one of those buckets."

From his research, Mr. Messulam says he can usually tell what types of things a company might want to know about him and thinks of corresponding anecdotes. "I have seven or eight top stories that tell someone what I am good at," he says.

This strategy also works when interviewers say, "Tell me about yourself," says Lucinda Baier, former president and chief operating officer of Whitehall Jewelers Inc., a national specialty retailer and a former senior vice president of Sears Roebuck & Co.

Ms. Baier left Chicago-based Whitehall in December after it accepted an agreement with an investor to become private. She left Sears in April 2004 when the credit and financial products division she headed was sold to Citibank.

When asked to tell interviewers about herself, she determines how much time she should use and then tries to describe her specific qualifications that fit the company's key issues.

"If you know what challenges the company is facing, you can tailor your response to what the company is dealing with and how you can help," she says.

Be positive about the negative. Count on being asked about a past mistake or blemish on your career record, and don't try to dodge the issue. Ms. Pincus advises. "If you have a vulnerability, you need to be prepared to answer the question," she says. "There should be no lying or dodging. Just answer it and move on."

When discussing a mistake, be ready to say how you learned or benefited from it. "You learn as much by dropping the ball as you do by catching it," says Mr. Herzog. When interviewing for his current job, which he started in August, Mr. Herzog says he mentioned he had been involved in successful turnarounds and one that failed. "And I said what I learned from it," he says.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services issued a new rule that makes it easier for farmers, airports, landowners and public health officials to kill Canadian geese without a permit.

Animal rights activists oppose the idea, naturally, but people who think the geese are a nuisance are happy with the measure.

“Canada geese are larger and more aggressive than native waterfowl,” said Rep. Jim Saxton, R-N.J., who has been working to control the geese population. “This day has been a long time in coming.”

Provisions to the new rule now allow:

• Airports, public health officials and landowners to destroy nests and eggs without federal permits.
• Private and public airports to round up the birds for destruction without federal permits.
• Local governments to round up the birds if they threaten public health by congregating at reservoirs, athletic fields, parks and public beaches.

In addition, the new rule also allows states to establish hunting seasons during the month of August. The existing hunting season is Sept. 1 to March 10.

The Fish and Wildlife Service said the rule was prompted in response to “growing impacts from overabundant populations of resident Canada geese.”

The agency said in the Atlantic Flyway, the resident Canada goose population has increased an average of 2 percent per year over the past four years and was estimated at 1.15 million this past spring.

“This final rule offers the essential flexibility needed for effective natural resource management,” Service Director Dale Hall said in a statement.

John Hadidian, urban wildlife program director for The Humane Society of the United States, said the Fish and Wildlife Service is trying to bring down the resident Canada goose population by 1 million birds.

“That means killing that many birds every year, for the next 10 years,” Hadidian said. “That’s appalling.”
The Human Society says the reason so many would have to be killed to reduce the population is because on average, a goose will have five eggs at a time in a nest, which take about a month to incubate. And if a nest is destroyed, a female goose often will simply lay another group of eggs.

Hadidian said communities have resorted to various measures to get rid of the birds, ranging from sterilizing eggs or destroying nests to rounding up the birds when they are molting and unable to fly and taking them to commercial poultry houses where they are killed.

He said the new rule destroys any way for his organization and others to keep track of how the geese are being eliminated. The Humane Society favors measures that would create places where the birds can migrate to without being a nuisance to humans.

“They are very smart birds and they learn right away where they are and are not tolerated,” Hadidian said.
Source: The Associated Press