From intern to head grounds pro in one year
8 Mar, 2010 By: Ron Hall Athletic Turf NewsINDIANAPOLIS, IN — It’s often said that the smart person learns from their experiences, but they learn more from other people’s experiences.
If that rings true for you and you’re considering the sports field management 
profession or just starting your career in the business, you might use the path Joey Stevenson followed making it in the business as a primer. He shared how he advanced from “a student to an intern to head groundskeeper in one year” with an overflow audience at this past January’s STMA national conference.
By any measure Stevenson’s climb up the career ladder as a sports field manager has been rapid. In October 2007, less than a year after earning a degree in turf science from Purdue University he was named the head groundskeeper for the Triple A Indianapolis Indians.
He’s responsible for keeping the playing field at Victory Field — a beautiful 14-year-old, 12,500-seat baseball park in downtown Indianapolis — in Major League condition. It’s one of the industry’s plum jobs, and has launched the careers of several nationally respected sports field managers.
First let’s acknowledge that Stevenson, who grew up on a farm in Dwight, IL, brought a strong work ethic to both his university studies and his chosen career. He landed his first turf job at 15 at Dwight Country Club near his home. He worked there five years. A leader in his high school FFA, he took that same drive to his studies at Purdue were he was active with the university turf club, serving as its treasurer, and competing with fellow students on its Turf Bowl team in national competitions.
In the summer of 2005 he worked as a summer intern with the MLP Philadelphia Phillies and in 2006 with the MLB Kansas City Royals. After earning his degree, he moved to Indianapolis and landed a job as assistant groundskeeper for the Indianapolis Indians. When the Indians named former head groundskeeper Jamie Mehringer as director of operations in Oct. 2007, they moved Stevenson up to head groundskeeper.
Stevenson says the responsibilities for each rung of the career ladder vary considerably, and anyone the sports field management profession must understand and learn them.
They start with inexperienced intern who gets assigned a lot of the actual hands-on fieldwork (“Show up on time and be ready to work,” says Stevenson.) to the assistant learning how to prepare the infield clay, doing the game setup and overseeing the night crew to the head groundskeeper who takes on a lot more management responsibility, including personnel management, training, budgeting and communicating with the front office and coaches.
Communication is key at all levels, says Stevenson, including sharing your 
experiences and knowledge, and building a network of friendly colleagues and contacts that are receptive to trading ideas and suggestions. Communication and speaking skills are essential for anyone seeking to advance their career as a grounds pro.
Adds Stevenson, if you’re uncertain about a particular procedure or duty, never be afraid to ask. And don’t be afraid to walk into you’re the office of your boss and ask either. You have to keep the lines of communication open so that you know what the organization expects from you and your team, and you can deliver it.
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