INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS
BEST PRACTICE
AWARD-WINNING LESSONS IN TEAMWORK The grounds team at St Joseph’s College has much to be proud of after an IOG award-winning 2018. Thanks to the team’s expert pitch care routines, the independent school continues to enhance its sporting facilities and increase its playing surfaces
A By Colin Hoskins Features editor
20 THE GROUNDSMAN September 2019
sked why he thinks St Joseph’s College won the 2018 IOG Growth Products Independent Schools Grounds Team of the Year Award, head groundsperson Pete Hamilton answers without hesitation. “I’d like to think the clincher was our team ethic,” he says. “Although we’re a small squad (four when we won the award – now five) we’re a strong group. We work hard on every task
across our 60-acre campus. We all muck in, whether for rugby, cricket, athletics, hockey, netball, tennis or football, as well as on the amenity areas. And we’re also able to have a laugh and a joke together – that’s very important.” Notwithstanding this emphasis on teamwork, the award also recognises the team’s achievements in attaining – and maintaining – high-quality playing surfaces (natural and artificial) that last year hosted: