[Music] i love sports of all kinds i love fall when I can watch soccer baseball and especially Spartan football hm as I think about it those sports are all played outside and the fields they play on are perfect not a blade of grass out of place hi scholars I'm Mrs mask i started to wonder how that grass always looks so perfect and I came across a career athletic turf manager now I'm really curious what this career is all about i bet if I break down what the words athletic turf and manager mean it'll help me better understand it athletic the word athletic describes a space where a sporting event is held turf this is the top layer of soil with grass and plant roots manager this is a person in charge of something so from breaking down the job title and thinking about the meaning of each word in it I've learned that an athletic turf manager is someone who is in charge of taking care of the grass at athletic fields i'd like to learn more about this career so I found a short video that will help me do that i'm going to use a graphic organizer called a KWL chart to help support my learning when I'm reading and writing and even when I'm listing for information like today a KWL chart can be used in a KWL chart the K column will be where I list what I already know about a career as an athletic turf manager the W column will have what I want to know about this career finally the L column will list what I learned from the video I watched to research this career let's start with what I already know about a career as an athletic turf manager under the K for what I know about career I'll write down someone who's in charge of taking care of the grass at athletic fields now I'm going to consider what I want to know i'll list questions under the W h do all athletic fields use the same kind of turf does an athletic turf manager use any special tools what is the science behind turf grass management what college classes are needed for this career let's watch this short video from the Curious Crew to find out are you curious about careers in science hi I'm Genesis and I'm here with Amy Fouchy the athletic turf manager at Michigan State University so Amy tell me what you do here i'm the athletic turf manager for the intercolgate athletic department here at Michigan State University myself and my staff take care of all the different athletic fields for the department baseball softball soccer and of course the football facilities for the football team each sport has a different level of playability so any field or surface that the athletes are playing on needs to be safe so this is called a field scout and basically it tells me the volume of water in the soil when you're looking at baseball you want to have the ball bounce on the grass or the dirt at a certain way when you're playing soccer you want the ball to roll smoothly across the surface when you're playing football you want really good strong footing so that they can dive and make plays so tell me what's the science behind turf grass management science behind turf grass management is basically like growing any other plant this is going to take all my strength if you are helping your mom and dad grow plants in a garden you have to water it you have to fertilize it and you got to have the right soils to grow what you want okay it says 32.6 so this area is nice and moist and I don't need to worry about watering it we combined science of growing turf and grass and soils with the art of maintaining fields what's the most rewarding part of your job the most rewarding part of our job is that we set the stage for greatness seven times a year we fill this stadium with 75,000 people when you talk about the big game the big plays that's what we do we set the stage for greatness what a great video and interview now I'm going to check on what I wanted to know which is listed in the W column did I get my questions answered if so I'll add what I learned to the L column do all athletic fields use the same kind of term no for example a baseball field needs the ball to bounce on the grass or in the dirt in a certain way while a ball on the soccer field should roll smoothly does this job use any special tools one specific tool that is used in this job is a field scout it measures the volume or amount of water in the soil what is the science behind turf grass management it's like growing any other plant you water it fertilize it and use the right soils to grow what you want what college classes I need for this career well I didn't find an answer to that so I'll have to keep looking wow this video helped me learn about being an athletic turf manager the KWL chart was useful in helping me to think about what I already know about this topic before doing further research and giving me a place to put questions I want to focus on answering and for organizing my new learning next time you're seeking new information consider using a KWL chart to help you organize it thank you for joining us if you want more fun ways to practice literacy skills don't forget to subscribe to the Michigan Learning channel and be sure to check the description below for links to activity guides resources and more [Music] [Applause]