STMA award winner says students deserve all the credit

February 3, 2020 - By Christina Herrick

Andrew Miller says he can’t live without his John Deere 2653B PrecisionCut Triplex mower. (Photo: John Miller)

While Andrew Miller has won several Sports Turf Managers Association awards, he says his Brentsville High School students deserve the credit. (Photo: John Miller)

Andrew Miller is no stranger to the Sports Turf Managers Association (STMA) awards. Miller recently took home the award for the association’s annual mowing pattern contest.

He and students at Brentsville High School in Nokesville, Va., in the school’s turfgrass management program, took home the crown for the association’s Stars and Stripes contest. They also won STMA’s 2018 Field of the Year for Donald Lambert Field.

Andrew Miller, advisor for the Brentsville High School turfgrass management program, won the Sports Turf Manager Association’s mowing patterns contest. Miller’s winning design at Donald Lambert Field in Nokesville, Va., is called “Nations Largest Classroom.” (Photo: STMA)

Miller credits his turfgrass management students at Brentsville High School for the win, noting “the name of the entry was ‘Nation’s Largest Classroom.’ It really truly is the nation’s largest classroom – you’re talking about taking these kids and putting them on a field where they don’t know anything about it and teaching them the basics behind turfgrass management.”

Miller says the end goal is to prepare his students for a career in the industry and along the way they learn valuable lessons, like what goes into an award-winning field. Above all, Miller says, the secret is teamwork.

Andrew Miller says teaching his turfgrass management students about the inner-workings of field design is important such as “having them understand what’s too much, especially when you want to maintain a safe playable surface.” (Photo: John Miller)

“What I get a kick out of, is these kids work better together than some of the people I used to work with,” he says. “It’s crazy how much a kid can get excited about something and create something so amazing at such a young age.”

The Nation’s Largest Classroom design was inspired by a design a friend created at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pa., for a soccer match between Real Madrid and Team USA. From there, Miller’s students took off. He says students threw out design ideas like diamonds, and that led to a discussion of playability and good visual field design.

“My big thing is empowering the kids on the decision-making process. I said what do you think would look good?” he says. “With the kids, having them understand what’s too much, especially when you want to maintain a safe playable surface. You’re not impacting any ball roll or anything. But still being able to do something aesthetically pleasing. The aesthetics are important but playability and safety are our No. 1 priority. The aesthetic is where we gauge the kids’ interest. It’s a way of putting the power in their hands to do what they want to do and have them come up with these incredible designs and win awards.”

As far as achieving aesthetics, Miller says he can’t live without his John Deere 2653B PrecisionCut Triplex mower. And Miller says it’s also critical that his students understand how vital a consistent, safe playing surface is for the high school’s athletes and that’s where a good-quality cut makes a difference.

“Our job in the turf industry is to make sure the playing surface is the same from Feb. 22, which is the first game to June 18,” he said, noting Brentsville has hosted three girls’ soccer state championships in the last four years. “It’s important for us to maintain that high cut and make sure they understand it’s going to play the same for every single game.”

And for the rest of the instruction, Miller says he teaches his students everything that comes along with turfgrass management, beyond just the basics of intricate design from operating that industry-grade mower, to seeding, to fertilizer.

“It’s a process of maintaining the fields but at the same time, teaching kids every aspect of it and what it takes from budgeting to what types of chemicals to be using to make sure that you have the right paint, make sure that you’re saving money on cutting paint, making sure that they know how to properly paint so that you can make an award-winning field and you can make patterns,” he says.

Miller says the awards his students have earned as part of the Brentsville High School turfgrass management program mean a lot to them.

“It’s really cool to see the kids take part and really take an interest in what we’re doing. Interest becomes a passion and then they’re becoming turfgrass managers on their own,” he says. “They’re the one doing all the work and deserve all the glory. They take great pride in this and it’s a big deal for them and they continue to do excellent work and continue to get awards for it.”