Life on a city grounds crew
With five school buildings and sixteen athletic fields to maintain, the Olmsted Falls City School District (OFCS) Grounds and Maintenance team keeps busy throughout the year. Every day and every season, multiple fields on the district’s grounds are occupied by events for school athletic teams and other leagues hosted in the city of Olmsted Falls, Ohio.
Head manager of the OFCS Grounds and Buildings, Tom Dipert, has been the man in charge of these properties for the past 18 years. Dipert leads a crew of eight during the summer months when the volume of work rises heavily. Every day, the crew is responsible for everything from cutting grass to painting and lining all of the fields on the district grounds. As if that was not a tough enough task in itself, living in the Cleveland area brings forth another major problem – weather.
“Keeping up with cutting grass and maintaining fields is tough,” Dipert says, “but the weather is always the main issue.”
Although the job can be strenuous at times, Dipert has had the chance to be a part of some incredible projects in his time at Olmsted Falls.
“The most memorable project I’ve been a part of was the opportunity to oversee the reconstruction of our varsity football field in the summer of 2012,” says Dipert.
AG Design, a premier athletic field service, was the team behind the field renovations. The group stripped the field, replaced all irrigation and drainage and topped the field off with fresh Kentucky Blue Grass sod. Tom praised the work of AG Design and says that the company continues to come to the school to fertilize, aerate and top-dress the field. While AG Design controls a good amount of the field work, the OFCS grounds crew works with the continuous upkeep of the field and the lining and painting before Friday night games in the fall.
Tom Dipert referred to himself as “a picky guy” when it comes to the appearance of the Olmsted Falls City School District. Being a picky guy has paid off, as over the past few years, Olmsted Falls has received multiple “Pioneer Athletics Field of Excellence” awards for the condition of their fields.
Check out the slideshow below for a behind-the-scenes look at the varsity football field reconstruction.
Photos: Olmsted Falls City Schools
Adam Asadorian is the summer intern for Athletic Turf’s parent company, North Coast Media. Asadorian is currently a third-year student at The Ohio State University, majoring in marketing and logistics at the Max M. Fisher College of Business.
Nice article and a beautiful natural turf field!!! Your hard work will pay off Adam!!!
Thank you, Mr Atkinson!
Well done Adam!!
Thank you very much, Dr. Lloyd!
Adam,
Excellent article!
Thank you for taking the time and recognizing quality OFCSD employees continuing to provide quality services.
We are extremely proud of our hard working maintenance department.
Thanks again,
R Coxon
Thank you!
Good article Adam!