Magazine - Member Profile – Barry Woodcock

By NZ Sports Field Forum in General News on 23rd Nov 2009 6:00

Name: Baz Woodcock (It’s actually Barry John, but I’m not a huge fan of Welsh Rugby…)
Qualifications/previous experience: A military background serving in the Royal Air Force (UK) almost straight after school exams, serving in the logistic and fuels storage (supplier) trade and two terms with the RAF Mountain Rescue Team. Following my completion of service, I donned the back pack and worked through Europe (in a procession of British and Irish bars, where I met my now wife of nine years). We have two awesome kids, Jackson 7 and Sylvia 2 (that’s . . . 22 !!) I have accumulated over 15 years in sales and marketing management positions and prior to the sports turf industry, I had been involved in senior roles within the financial services, industrial packaging and commercial/synthetic flooring industries.

Who do you work for currently: I hold the Sales and Marketing Manager role for both the NZ Sports Turf Institute and the ITO (Industry Training Organisation).
What is your position/responsibilities: The NZSTITO provide turf management training courses for sports turf and amenity turf managers and apprentices. These are both sourced directly from the current NZQA framework or developed specifically for the sector. My role is to promote and make available these courses and the NZSTITO training calendar to the sports and amenity turf sector. I have a very similar role for the NZ Sports Turf Institute and their services and advisory products, promoting and marketing the readily available products and services, and also engaging with the market to needs analyse specific and tailored requirements.

What do you enjoy most about your job: The ability and autonomy to develop tailored and bespoke training and services and agronomy services (in line with client needs). The people at the NZSTI and ITO are very easy to work with. The regional agronomists and training support teams host a mass of knowledge and industry respect. This makes my job both enjoyable and (almost) stress free.

What are your passions outside of work: The wife and kids (She might read this….!!) I love my sport and still play as much golf as a fine weekend can offer. There aren’t many sports I won’t watch, either with or without my other non sporting passion – fine (and often not-so-fine) wine or a cold Steinlager Pure. Other interests include art, design and cooking (Indian cuisine is the speciality).

What do you enjoy most about the sports turf industry: The people! I have been involved in a couple of tough industries but can “hand on heart” say that the coal face practitioners in this industry are by far the most hard working and under-valued, it’s with this realisation and engagement with the turf sector that I have honed a passion for the job at hand and an uncompromising work ethic to do the right thing by the industry. “It’s not hard to love a job that has one involved with the honest-as-the-day-is-long attitude that most turf managers, club and association stakeholders display”.

Where do you see the industry going in the future: Tough one – but a good question (especially in the current – but yo-yoing – economic climate). I have a view that unless we as an industry accept three key things we could be in for a tough trot:

- The industry (and that is every sector!) has made it very clear to me during recent seminars, consultation and needs analysis that we (the turf advisory and training sector) accept that tailored and bespoke servicing is paramount – i.e. we are moving (make that sprinting) away from “off the shelf” service provision in favour of comprehensive, needs only based services and staff development.

- A focus on a green and compliant industry (compliance = environ/ecological, regional by-law etc...) It’s a well known but as yet low action fact that our industry is slow to react or mitigate/moderate risk. The sooner we as an industry and sector governance embrace its risks, and address them, the better. In NZ we are small, yet robust and therefore have the unique and rare opportunity to pre-prepare and pre-mitigate. I feel that we (as an industry) know what is required yet we await a precedent (or local calamity) do something proactive. The NZSTI and ITO have recognised and addressed it. Membership based clubs (golf/bowls etc..) will have to make the move to business mode to survive i.e. the typical club (membership and funding income reliant) sports in our industry face a key issue.

- Dwindling income from ageing and depleting memberships, slowing of corporate sector cash, sponsorship, funding etc… The club needs to be governed by people with proven business acumen or individuals with a talent for networking at a “financial” level. Naturally, there are avenues that funding agencies and industry can offer advisory.

Background to the NZ Sports Field Forum
The NZ Sports Field Forum is dedicated to the sharing of information about all aspects of sports field maintenance and administration. The Forum began in Auckland in 1993, when Bruce Paton, a Sports Parks Officer with Auckland City Council called the first gathering of sports field officers from several of the councils in the Auckland Region. The Forum became an Incorporated Society in October 2002, and now has a membership of almost 200 people from throughout NZ, located from Kaitaia to Invercargill. Membership is drawn from contractors, schools, stadiums, consultants, sporting organisations and councils. Membership is free.

Members receive the Forum’s bi-monthly newsletters, news flashes, job vacancies, and invitations to Forum field days, seminars, as well as the New Zealand Turf Conference & Trade Show held every two years.

If you have any questions regarding the Forum, or are interested in becoming a member, please email the newsletter editor, Bobbie-Jo Harvey, on sportsfieldforumnz@gmail.com

Read more articles in General News, by NZ Sports Field Forum or from November 2009.