state reports tgcsa state reports
In April, a select group of turf management apprentices in Tasmania had the opportunity to participate in a trial conducted by the Skills Institute using their new ‘virtual classroom’ technology. The Skills Institute Mobile Training Centre has been purposely built for remote training and can accommodate up to 15 students
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uperintendents and turf managers around Tasmania have been blessed with a reasonably mild summer. Combined with regular rainfalls around the state during this time, most areas have had ample water in storage to get right through summer without having to cut back on fairways. It certainly is nice to get an easy summer occasionally. The first TGCSA education day for 2012 was held on 29 February at the sensational new Twin Ovals complex at Kingborough. Sponsored by Syngenta and Tasmania Farm Equipment, the day started with Phil Ford who gave two presentations. His first talk focused on sports turf injuries and looked at traction and surface firmness of different soil types on ovals. Phil’s second talk covered root decline in cool-season grasses. Geoff Koop then spoke to delegates about the service that will be provided around the state for Jacobsen/Cushman/Ryan now that Tasmania Farm
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GAA Victoria trusts you are all travelling well and preparing your grounds or venues for the rigours of the winter months ahead. What an autumn we have had this year with the slightly warmer weather in most parts making life a little easier. To our friends and colleagues in flood-affected areas in the north of the state, we hope all the recovery efforts are going as planned. On that note, TGAA Victoria postponed its 2012 Regional Seminar at the Wangaratta Turf Club out of respect to those affected by the floods. In doing so we also donated $1000 to the relief fund in a show of support to the region. We wish them well as recovery efforts continue. Stay tuned for further information regarding the rescheduling of this day. As we near the middle of the year we are fast approaching the Australian Turfgrass Conference in Melbourne. This
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is always a great opportunity to showcase what we do as an industry collective. Please ensure that you check out the Sportsfield stream as the format this year is a little different to previous years. TGAA will also be on Stand 44 and 45 during the trade exhibition along with our interstate mates from the STA, so drop by and if there is anything we as your association can do then please let us know. We will also be holding our annual TGAA Victoria Cricket Wicket Seminar, sponsored by Cricket Victoria, on Wednesday 25 July at the MCG. We have a great line-up of guest speakers including Cameron Sutherland (WACA) to speak on how things are done over in the West. We will also have Max Walker as guest speaker, who will no doubt add some humour to proceedings.
Australian Turfgrass Management
Nathan Tovey President, TGAA VIC
Equipment has taken on this range of equipment. A great range of machinery was also on display outside. After a BBQ lunch, Patrick Madden from Syngenta then spoke on preparing soils for oversowing. Chris Hay from Kingborough then took delegates on a tour of the new cricket wickets, ovals and facilities at the complex. Thanks to the sponsors and all the speakers on the day who provided great content. With such quality speakers, I was disappointed at the attendance for this day and the committee will now have to look at whether any events can be held down south. Our next day will be held at Longford Golf Club (superintendent Ricky Barr) on 15 May. This day will involve some presentations early before a cooked lunch. We will then have a look at some bunker construction on the course before heading out for a two-ball Ambrose event. Teams or singles can RSVP and we will team up players for the day. I hope to see you all there. Finally, some apprentices throughout Tasmania have recently had the opportunity to participate in a trial conducted by the Skills Institute using new ‘virtual classroom’ technology. The Skills Institute has obtained Federal Government funding to trial the new National Broadband Network (NBN) which is currently being rolled out across Tasmania. On 4 April the Skills Institute conducted a turf training trial with the NBN from Midway Point Community Centre with trainer assessor Mark Potter talking and communicating to 8-10 apprentices and their supervisors situated in Scottsdale via laptop. The Skills Institute Mobile Training Centre, purposely built for remote training (see photos above), can hold up to 15 students who all have laptops. During the hour-long session students looked at some local, interstate and international turf venues through 3D Google Earth maps, including the MCG, Lords and Augusta National Golf Course. This gave the apprentices a chance to have a look at these turf icons in a different way and at different times throughout the year. They also looked at turf diseases, irrigation uniformity, nutrition, course layouts and history and viewed YouTube clips of different turf machinery. This type of training technology will be used more and more over the next few years as the NBN gets rolled out. We will be able to transmit into the apprentices own worksite or home, saving the apprentice and employer time and money. The computer world is changing rapidly and with our apprentices being able to use this technology it will help them gain more information and use better tools to manage our turf areas in the future.
Tony Smith President, TGCSA