Magazine - Sydney Sports Turf Seminar Review

By Jenny Zadro in Industry News on 27th May 2009 6:00

Martyn Black admiring Gary Beehag's tie with Dave Worrad	Joel Toogood of Green Horticulture and STA Committee with Chris Stig of PJC Sports Turf	Delegates enjoying Martyn Black's talk

On Tuesday, 21st April we held our Sydney Sports Turf Seminar and Tradeshow and all went extremely well with 175 attending and some great feedback from members.  This year we made some changes to the event including a new venue, Ryde TAFE which proved to be a great venue for us. We also added a choice of Streams for the delegates to go to including Cricket Wickets, Golf & Bowls and Management. This also worked well as our members were able to listen to talks specifically relating their workplace.

We started the seminar with Major Grant Gleeson who motivated everyone on team leadership from his extensive experience with the Defence Force.  This was followed by a very entertaining and inspiring presentation by Martin Black on achieving goals. Martin gave us an insight into his trek on the Kokoda Trail.  The morning session also included presentations from Living Turf, Sustainable Turf Renovations, Globe and The Green Horticultural Group.

Session 2 of the seminar was the Streams. The Cricket Wicket included a presentation by Bob Paddison on Cricket Wicket Construction and Peter McMaugh provided an understanding of wicket soil behaviour.  In the Golf/Bowling Greens Stream, Martin O’Malley provided details of the construction of Lynwood Country Club and Dave Westall talked about Nematode Control. The Management stream included a presentation on communication and management by Symon Scott of Avondale Golf Club and then a forum was held on ‘The Difficulties of Sports Facility Management” from the perspective of the Greenkeeper and the Manager. We had Pittwater RSL Club represented by Ben Hargy and Bruce Smith and ANZ Stadium was represented by myself and Daryl Kerry.  In addition to the above talks we also had presentations from Country Club International and Syngenta.

During the morning tea and lunch breaks guests were able to visit the Trade Display area with 22 sponsors displaying their products and services and machinery.

The day concluded with a talk from the Bulldogs Rugby League Club CEO, Todd Greenberg. Todd spoke of the challenges he has faced in rebuilding the club, getting the right people in the right place and improving the image of the Club.

Many thanks to all the sponsors and presenters for their support of the event.

	Trade Area
	Living Turf Team of Rob Cooper, Dave Worrad & Stuart Miller with Sam Hole of Syngenta
	Guest Speaker, Todd Greenberg, CEO Bulldogs Rugby League Club with STA President Graeme Logan

	Nadeem Zreikat of Colin Campbell Chemicals & STA with Sam Hole of Syngenta
	Grant Gleeson with Albert Leggett of Ecofertiliser

Gold Sponsors
Globe Australia
Living Turf
Sustainable Turf Renovations & Equipment
The Green Horticultural Group

Silver Sponsors
Country Club International
Syngenta Crop Protection
Sydney Weed & Pest Management

Trade Sponsors
Colin Campbell Chemicals
Bayer Environmental Science
Eco Plant
Endeavour Turf Products
Fountain Line
GYC
Maxwell & Kemp
Outdoor Design Source
Pitchcare Oceania
PJC Sportsturf
Silvan Australia / GWS Machinery
Sterling Group Services
Synthetic Grass & Rubber Surfaces
Turfcraft Machinery
Turfdrain Australia
Turf Tec Australia
Worksafe Medics

 

 

 

Help support STA and head to the website: www.sportsturf.asn.au
Information on becoming a member can be found by clicking here

 

 

 

 

 

Read more articles in Industry News, by Jenny Zadro or from May 2009.