by Mike Andresen

Striping, lining and logos arethe finishing touches on yourplaying field. Safety and

playability must come before aesthet-ics, but aesthetics are a very importantaspect of a sports turf manager's job.

AccuracyIn striping and lining, accu-

racy is essential. Games arewon or lost by inches, and manyof those inches are marked bywhat you've painted, and howprecisely you've painted it.If you're getting a new logo

stencil, put the extra time andmoney into getting one that'sdetailed. Invest in quality paintand quality painting equip-ment, it will pay for itself in thelong run. Don't be afraid to tryout new paints and to workwith your paint supplier to getthe paint you want.

Logos are more than a pret-ty design. They project theimage of your organization andyour team. They're also a mar-keting tool. A great logo sellsthose shirts, hats and otherparaphernalia that help fundthe program.

field painting is in-ground markers.Placed at strategic points, these mark-ers eliminate the need to establishbase measuring points each time youpaint. They may be purchased ormade, and the type required will varywith the game.

ground with the top of the PVC pipeapproximately 1/4-inch below thegrass line.

For soccer, the in-ground markersare located within the playing area. Weuse a store-bought, ground-socketmarker that has a cap on top. When

sunk into the ground, the top ofthis marker is right at the soilline.

The covered top eliminatesthe chance of a player sinking ashoe spike into the open centerof the marker. The cap comesoff so we can slip in a purchasedpeg that has string on it to runthe lines. The sleeve is alsoused to hold the flags that markthe field corners.

FootballWhen painting the lines on

our football field, we set ourstring lines and run the painterright down the center of thestring. We paint two inches oneach side of the string. Otherspaint a four-inch band at theedge of the string. Overall, theirlines will each be two inches'off' of our lines, but it's the con-sistency within the field that's

important.We paint the white lines on the field

with a Jiffy model 8000 self-propelled,walk-behind line painter with a 12-gal-Ion tank. We mix our paint with water

The quality of field painting at Jack Trice Fielddemonstrates the pride :MikeAndresen's team putsinto their work. Their efforts won them STMA'sCollege Football Field of the YearAward in 1996.Courtesy: Mike Andresen

SpeedAfter accuracy, your second priority

is speed, because crew time is precious.The biggest factor in fast and accurate

For football, all of our in-groundmarkers are located off the playingarea of the field. We cut 1-1/2-inchPVC pipe into sections six to eightinches long. We sink these into the

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1. 2.

Logos are complex; most are copyrighted, and all must be accurate. These imagesdemonstrate the painting process, as the crew at Sec Taylor Stadium in DesMoines, Iowa, prepares the logo for the 1997AAAAIl-StarGame.Courtesy: Mike Andresen

to a 1:1 ratio, and it takes approxi-mately 50 gallons of mix to paint thelines.

When temperatures drop in latefall, we add a little alcohol to the paint.The ratio differs, depending on weath-er conditions. The alcohol sucks themoisture out of the paint and allows itto dry before it freezes. Alcohol is hardon the grass, but our turf grasses aredormant before we need to use it, andthe rates are very small.

We paint all of the five-yard linesfirst, and then paint the sidelines sothe painter won't run over fresh paint.An in-ground marker is located ateach five-yard line on both sides of thefield. They are placed just outside thethree-foot border that the NCAArequires around the field. The stringline is stretched across the field frommarker to marker.

The NCAA requires a four-inch gapbetween the yard lines and the side-lines, so the sideline string lines needto be stretched out when the yard linesare painted. We place a four-inch pieceof aluminum beneath the ''X'' made bythe sideline string and the yard -linestring to set the space.

The sideline markers are locatedoutside the three-foot border. They areplaced at the end of the field to set thehorizontal line, and at the end of theendzone to create the vertical line.

Once line painting is complete, webreak into two crews: a logo crew anda field crew. Our field crew goesstraight to work on the inside hash-marks. We have an in-ground markeron the back side of each endzone, andwe run a string from endzone to end-zone to prepare the line for the hash-marks. We use an aluminum stenciland paint with an airless sprayerplaced on the back of a small golf cart.100 feet of hose allows the cart to runoff the field, along the sideline. Theangle of the slack in the hose keeps itfrom dragging through the paint.

Once the hashmarks are painted,we move the two string lines to the toppoint of the newly painted lines toposition the numbers. An in-groundmarker nine yards off the sidelinesverifies the placement. We use NFLstyle number stencils made of heavyvinyl. They're mounted on an alu-minum frame to keep them stretchedout and in good condition. The crew

starts at one end of the field andworks to the opposite endzone.

Once the numbers are painted, thefield-painting crew brings the hash-mark stencil back out and paints thesideline hashmarks. They proceed topaint the kickoff "X" on the 35-yardline and on the three-yard PAT hash-mark line. This completes the whitepaint on the field.

The sideline strings remain downuntil the paint is dry. They are thenmoved out to paint the white three-foot border on each side of the field.There are in-ground markers at eachend of the field on both sides to setthese strings three feet out from thesideline.

While those two strings are down,we take the shorter sideline stringand measure to make the coachesboxes and team areas. We don't havein-ground markers in those areas,

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because wear is extensive and wedon't want any exposed PVCpipe.

Now the field-painting crewswitches to an airless sprayerwith an 18-inch-wide nozzle.They fill in the white paint in thethree-foot border, and in the six-foot-wide team area and coachesbox.

Our logo crew's motto is: "mea-sure twice and spray once." Rulesrequire a four-foot space betweenthe sidelines and painted areas.Because the endzone is 30 feetdeep, we've designed all of ourlogos 22 feet high. The centerendzone logo is 71 feet long.

We draw a tape measure ~===across the back of the endzone In-ground markers eliminate the need to estab-from sideline to sideline and run lish base measuring points each time you paint.a string line. We measure and Courtesy: Mike Andresen

put a string line on the center ofthe endzone lengthwise. To getthe exact center of the logo'sdimensions, we measure and runa string line perpendicular tothese lines, from the front of theendzone to the back of the end-zone. This method is more accu-rate than measuring from thegoal post.

Our logo stencils are made ofvinyl and have small holespunched in them. The appropri-ate color paint is sprayed throughthe hole to create a dot of paint onthe field. With the vinyl removed,outlining the logo becomes a con-nect the dots exercise.

We start at the center of thelogo and work out. In the heat, thevinyl will stretch. We don't wantthe stencil to be on the field any

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longer than necessary to avoid buildingup excessive heat beneath it and yel-lowing of the turf. We work on one logoat a time, and finish it completelybefore starting the next one. Logos arecomplex; most are copyrighted, and allmust be accurate. We keep a copy ofthe logo on the field as we paint.

We start by using aerosols of each ofour colors to paint any unique featuresor small details prior to coding out ourlogos. Then we paint with the airlesssprayer equipped with a 4-inch widetip.

We select one color first and paint allof that color before moving on. Wealways finish with white, so we canrepair any mistakes. We only cover thetip of the grass plant with paint. Upclose on the field, you can see greenunder the paint. That's what we want to

maintain for the health of the turfgrass.Lowering sprayer pressure won't

keep the paint from pushing the grassdown and working down into the turf.It's better to raise the pressure. Youwill get finer droplets that dry quickerand stay in place.

We paint all the endzone logos first,and then move to the field logos. Foreach one, we establish a center pointusing the crossed string line method toensure accurate placement.

When we installed a natural grassfield, we changed from a center logo totwo' side logos to reduce additionalstress on the high-traffic zone. It hasbeen effective.

Rules state that you can paint overthe line markings - if the referees cansee the lines clearly. The 25-, 30- and35-yard lines bisect our on-field logos.

• •Inlng

We don't paint over the lines. Instead,we paint our logos. around them. It'sour subtle way of emphasizing thatthe field exists for the game.

Our field-painting crew finishes bystringing and painting the yellowrestraining line for the press. It runssix feet outside of the three-foot bor-der on the sides, and nine feet beyondthe endzone. It extends all the wayaround the field. It's there for thesafety of the players and the workingcrews - the chain gang and the refer-ees.

We try to paint on Wednesday andThursday, and touch up on Friday forSaturday games. The team has a 2-112-hour Thursday afternoon practice, soany paint must be dry by noon. Ifweather conditions look poor for drying,the painting schedule is moved forward.

}aydee Drive Liner

The ]aydee Drive Liner is a self-propelled riding linemarker. The 35-gallon paint tank carries enough mark-ing material for a complete game field, or several prac-tice fields. The 2-gallon flush tank cleans the dischargelines for work breaks, travel, or overnight. Thecenter or side-mark spray shields are always oper-ator-visible. A nearly zero turning radius reduces oreliminates back-and-turn maneuvers.

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May 1998 11

Soc~er

On a soccer field, one in-groundsocket is placed at the very centerpoint of the field. We remove thecap, drop in the string peg, and runthe string out to the correct dis-tance. We walk around this string'circle,' dotting the line with anaerosol can of paint. Then we goback and connect the dots.

Other in-ground sockets areplaced at the corners of the field, atthe lengthwise sideline centerpoints, and at the outer point of thepenalty area on the sidelines. Wedon't put in-ground markersaround the goal because it's a high-traffic area, so we must measureand line for the goal arcs andsquare out from the goal mouth.

Keep the perspectiveIf the press and the public see

that your field looks great, they'll

Crossing two string lines allows paint crews toaccurately line the field and center the logos.Courtesy: Mike Andresen

think it is great. That's one bonusof aesthetics. You can consciouslyuse this to your advantage todraw the eye to the logo insteadof the hashmarks and other wearareas. Damage isn't quite asnoticeable.

We do tend to think of fieldpresentation as primarily a "fanthing" or a "media thing," butdon't discount the effect it has onthe team. They do notice thatpresentation, and they doappreciate it. 0

Mike Andresen is athletic turfmanager at Iowa StateUniversity, Ames, Iowa. He is aboard member for the Iowa SportsTurf Managers Association and ischapter relations chair of thenational STMA.

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