Preventative Maintenance

Whether you own and operate your sports facilities or have a user group agreement, we all have the responsibility to ensure those facilities are safe and last the test of time. Maintaining these facilities properly is the key to make sure this happens. Unfortunately, a lot of the time user groups or organizations do not have adequate budgets to provide sufficient ongoing maintenance to meet and exceed the life span of the facility, causing things to become unsightly and run down quicker than expected.

Maintaining sports facilities is essential to ensuring safety, longevity, and optimal performance for athletes and visitors. A well-planned preventative maintenance program helps reduce costly repairs, enhances user experience, and preserves the facility’s value. Most all of these concepts can be applied to your indoor and outdoor facilities. Regardless of your budget there are things you can do to help with the longevity of your facilities. Here are key tips for maintaining sports facilities effectively.

1. Have a plan: A preventative maintenance plan is essential to keeping up with your facility use. The plan should include all your preventative maintenance duties and tasks, how much time each task takes, who is responsible for the task and the frequency of each task. If you know these things about the maintenance of your facility, it makes it much easier to maintain.

2. Prioritize Tasks: Maintenance is time consuming and can be expensive. To prioritize maintenance tasks, use the following guideline on which ones to accomplish first:
   1. Liabilities and Hazards: Anytime a liability or hazard is identified within your facility it should be addressed immediately. If you cannot accomplish the task in a timely manner, close off the area so no one can get near it.
   2. Mandates: If it is a mandate from the City, County, or higher up in your organization, you need to attend to those items next to ensure you are in compliance.

• Preventative Maintenance: When you have rectified your liabilities and mandates it is time to go back to your preventative maintenance plan and upkeep your facility on a regular basis.

3. Seek Additional Training: Most of us that use these facilities on the recreation side are not court or field turf facility experts. That does not mean we should be clueless on how these facilities should be kept up. Look for training opportunities online or in your area to gain basic knowledge of how to properly maintain your facility.

4. Train User Groups and Volunteers: If you are the owner/operator of the facility take it upon yourself to train your user groups on basic field maintenance. Attend their board meetings or coaches meetings and put material together they can reference when they are out using your fields or courts. If you are the user group, make sure this information gets to your coaches and team managers. Make it a point to address this before every season because if your user groups are not trained in keeping up with your facility, they can do more harm than good.

5. Provide the Necessary Tools: If you are asking your volunteers or front line staff members to assist with maintaining your facility, give them the tools they needs to succeed. Make sure your coaches, managers and other volunteers have access to things like rakes, shovels, brooms, drag mats for clay, hand pumps for puddles, drying agent, fill sand, buckets along with cleaning supplies such as mops, brooms, cleaning solution and paper products. They don’t need access to any large equipment or machinery but the basics will go a long way.

When maintaining a facility, there are many things to consider. Here are some guidelines to consider and make sure you have protocols in place when managing any facility:

1. Conduct Regular Inspections: Conduct routine inspections of playing surfaces, seating, restrooms, and common areas and keep a checklist to track maintenance tasks and required repairs.. Check for wear and tear, structural damage, and safety hazards.
2. Playing Surface Maintenance

• For turf fields, groom and aerate regularly to prevent uneven surfaces and prolong turf life.
• For hard courts, inspect for cracks and resurface as needed to ensure player safety.
• For grass fields, mow, water, and fertilize regularly to maintain optimal conditions.

3. Equipment and Facility Safety Checks: Regularly inspect goalposts, nets, scoreboards, walkways, and bleachers for signs of damage. Ensure that gymnasium flooring, weight room equipment, and locker rooms are in safe condition. Address any loose bolts, rust, or structural issues immediately.
4. HVAC, Plumbing, and Electrical Maintenance: Clean and service HVAC systems to ensure proper ventilation and temperature control. Regularly inspect plumbing fixtures and drainage systems to prevent leaks and water damage. Check lighting, wiring, and electrical panels to ensure compliance with safety standards.
5. Cleaning and Sanitation Protocols: Establish a routine cleaning schedule for play areas, locker rooms, restrooms, and shared areas. Use appropriate disinfectants to prevent the spread of germs and bacteria and ensure waste disposal systems are functioning efficiently.
6. Pest Control Measures: Implement a pest control plan to prevent infestations in storage and seating areas. Seal cracks and entry points to reduce pest access and schedule professional pest inspections as needed.
7. Weatherproofing and Seasonal Maintenance: Prepare facilities for seasonal changes by winterizing pipes and checking heating systems. Ensure proper drainage to prevent flooding during heavy rains. Protect outdoor structures from extreme weather conditions, such as removing shade during high wind events.
8. Implement Off Season Maintenance Tasks Annually: The off season is when you have the time to catch up on your facility needs and get your facility back up to standard after the wear and tear the league puts on it. Don’t take this time for granted as the next season will be here before you know it. After the season ends, have an off season maintenance plan in place along with an equitable timeline to ensure everything you need done, gets done

Here are some basic maintenance guidelines to pass on to your user groups and volunteers that can go a long way in keeping your fields in playable shape when your full time maintenance staff is not on site:

1. Stay away from areas of wear during practice. A lot of times you will notice the same exact spot wear each season, usually due to the flow of the games and coaches wanting to practice exactly where they play. Encourage coaches to rotate their drills during practice to avoid these areas. If you have the ability to rotate fields during the season, consider a rotation schedule to spread out the wear.

2. Have strict guidelines on playing on wet surfaces or during inclement weather. This is the number one thing that will tear up your fields. Generally if more than 5% of the field has standing water it is too wet to play. A good way to test this is if you are walking and can see your footprint sink in the turf or clay, do not play. If you are at an indoor facility be on the lookout for water intrusion, condensation, or spills. Prevent teams on practicing or playing on surfaces that are too saturated or before you know it your play area will be damaged or a participant injured.

3. Have guidelines on maintaining clay infields. For baseball or softball fields have materials for your coaches on proper procedures for the clay infield, especially when it’s wet. Things like pumping out the standing water, properly using a drying agent, not raking clay into the grass, how to drag or rake an infield, and maintaining the integrity of the pitchers’ mound will go a long way.

4. Use fill sand to fill any pot-holes that may arise. Your risk management procedures should call for field and equipment inspections before every game day. If you or your user groups come across pot-holes make sure there is a way to fill them and even use field paint to mark them. Inform all teams playing on that field of those areas. If holes get too large or too deep you should not be playing until they are properly filled.

5. Clean up after game days and practices. Removing trash, putting away equipment, covering the mounds/home plate, sweeping your courts, etc. are all things that should be done after every game day or practice. With so many people coming in and out of your facility, if the fields or courts are not closed down properly after every game and practice it can build up quick.
   
   
6. Keep courts clean, dry and free of debris. Have guidelines in place on sweeping your courts in between games as well as protocols when water or other debris are on the court.

7. Have an opening and closing checklist. During your leagues you should have clear processes and expectations for opening and closing your facilities on a daily basis. Sometimes this can be a lot to remember for staff or volunteers. Have a checklist of everything that needs to be put away, cleaned, and maintained after opening and prior to closing your facility. Have staff or volunteers follow the checklist each day and sign off on each task on the list. Rotate duties among staff or volunteers each week so they all play an equal part in maintaining your facility. This will help ensure that all the measures you are taking to upkeep your facilities during season are getting done daily.

8. Have a procedure in place to report maintenance issues. When a maintenance issue is identified make sure you have a procedure in place for staff or volunteers to report the issue. Once an issue is reported tackle it immediately to rectify the issue. Putting it on the back burner opens the door for it to get worse or forgotten. If the maintenance issue is a liability hazard secure the area right away.

A proactive approach to sports facility maintenance helps prevent costly repairs, ensures safety, and enhances the experience for athletes and visitors. By following these preventative maintenance tips, facility managers can keep their sports venues in peak condition for years to come. Apply any applicable guidelines above to any facility you operate for your programs, indoor or outdoor. Take your preventative maintenance serious while training, educating, and supervising your user groups will go a long way to maintain the longevity of your facilities on any budget.