A Strange Year

As we continue to get closer to normal life, we are still dealing with COVID-19 issues. I’m sure many of you have made major adjustments to your everyday operations. Seeing the lights at our local soccer complex gives me a sense of normalcy. I know from areas I have visited that many of you guys have been busy. Some of the fields look as good as I have ever seen them. I encourage you to use this time to continue the talks with your athletic directors and coaches about rest time for the sports fields and the importance for safe, playable surfaces. Luckily, we are getting plenty of rain and that is always a blessing.

This has been a very strange year for our board. We face constant unknowns and we haven’t met in person since the Sports Turf Field Day in Florence on March 11th. We are, however, working for you and continuing to meet through online and phone conferences. We have been pulling together names for future board positions, and we have an impressive list of people that will continue to push this association to greatness. We recently had a meeting regarding our financials, and I want to assure you our association is financially sound due to good stewardship by our board and good member engagement in attending our events.

I also wanted to touch on our scholarship opportunities for members’ children. If you have a child that has been accepted to the college of their choice, you can access the online scholarship application on our website, alaturfgrass.org. Certain criteria must be met, and the guidelines are also posted on the website. Historically, we have tried to give one scholarship for underclassmen, and one for upperclassmen. A lot of thought and discussion goes into awarding these scholarships. It is very important to make sure all areas of the application are completed.

We would like to host some events prior to the end of the year, but we have to make sure we are following guidelines set forth by the state. I’ve missed seeing you guys. As of now, Deep South has been reinvented as a golf tournament and tradeshow on the course at The Preserve in Biloxi. You will find more information about the changes to come, including the date, which has changed, in the article in this issue (page 10). The Expo is a great partnership between Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana turfgrass and golf associations. Education and networking opportunities are second to none at the Expo and we will go forward better than ever in 2021. In the meantime, please consider attending the Tournament, Tradeshow and Tailgate this year!

I will be stepping down soon, so I want to thank the entire Board for serving under these difficult times; it has been strange. I especially want to thank our long time Educational Advisors, Dr. Dave Han and Dr. Jim Jacobi. We lean on them often and they never let us down. Brad Barron and Jim Crockett will be rolling off the Board this fall, so thank them for their service the next time you see them. And I can't forget our Executive Director, Melanie Bonds; she is the force behind the association that keeps it running smoothly . Lastly, I hope my successor, Joe Collins, CSFM, has a year with less governmental social restrictions, so ATA can return to our normal schedule of events in 2021. Joe has been a strong Vice President and will serve ATA well as President. Our slate of officers and directors is published on page 11, so please take a look at who will be serving next year. We are always looking for members to step up and move into a role representing their segment of the turfgrass industry, so if you would like to serve on the board in 2022, please let us know.

Thank you for your continued support and see you guys soon.Sincerely,

ATA President