We all have to wonder how often and how much work it takes to prepare and take care of our school athletic fields. There are many ways to take care of the fields, but the custodians here at HAHS have a long and not easy way of taking amazing care of them. We have 10 fields and some that hold three events on each year. 

     Rhonda Kilner, the HAHS Head Custodian, states, “There is so much to do, it’s overwhelming sometimes plus all the inside and maintenance work.” There is a lot of equipment the custodians need to take care of the fields. The fields get fertilized a few times a year, aerated once a year, watered when dry everyday, mowed three times a week at different heights for different sports, lines painted once a week for each specific sport, stadium turf and baseball turf get swept and generated every other month, sprayed and week whacked four times a summer, and much more. 

     The dugouts need to be cleaned every game, they need to put up nets that pertain to a sport, it can be up to 26 or more nets. They dig up all of the dirt fields by raking and edging because no grass is allowed on the dirt playing fields. They turn on outside water supplies, hang signs, put out trash cans, clean up leaves, and that is not all for their job.

     All of the custodians try to work together. There are only four custodians to do all of this work. They need a bunch of equipment to do all of this work. Including, industrial mowers (different kinds for different tasks), trimmers, weed wackers, edgers, aerators, seeders, plows, top dressers, forklifts, tractors, golf carts, weed killer, paint, water wheel, walk behind paint sprayers, hammers rope, string, and tape measures. They also need skids of these supplies so they can get this work done. 

     At HASD, there are many types of fields. Some sports can be played on a football field but that does not change any of the amount of work that these custodians have to do. There are many different types of fields: natural soil fields, modified soil fields and soilless fields and many designs: football gridiron, soccer fields, field hockey fields, baseball diamonds, and soilless (sand) fields for all sports. 

     Lauren Atkins, Senior Field Hockey player, stated that sometimes because they play last sometimes they have to put on their own cages and pylons.”

     Gabriella Valentino, junior Cheerleader and Track and Field participant shared that there is not much for them to set up for cheer, but for track and field, they keep all of the grasses cut nicely so we can perform to our best ability.  “They do not really keep hold of our equipment but they take care of our track well.”

     For more information, visit https://extension.psu.edu.