Nick Christians
October 14, 2014
Two of our turf graduate students are traveling to England this month to work with the NFL to prepare the field for the International Exhibition Games.
ISU turf management students will tend Wembley field for NFL International series
See the full story on the ISU web site at:
http://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2014/10/13/turf-london
AMES, Iowa -- Sometimes, when what-you-know intersects with
who-you-know, something extraordinary can occur. At least that's how it
happened for two Iowa State University graduate students.
Kevin Hansen and Joshua Lenz study sports turf management in the
horticulture department. Turf managers are the folks who keep the
putting greens green and the yard lines aligned.
As undergraduates at Iowa State, Hansen and Lenz were chosen to intern
on the turf crews at Super Bowl XLVII and XLVIII respectively. Besides
preparing the fields and practice fields, painting logos on the fields
and (in Lenz's case) removing snow, they networked and generally hung
out with the top turf field managers from around the country.
Spending a week at ground zero of, arguably, the biggest sporting event
of any given year was the most awesome experience a couple of sports
nuts/turf majors could have. And yet, the awesomeness continues.
Turf guys for hire
A couple of months ago, Lenz was talking to one of the aforementioned
turf managers who told him about another exceptional opportunity: spend a
couple of weeks in London preparing the Wembley Stadium field for NFL
exhibition games. All expenses plus pay.
Since 2007, the NFL has hosted regular season games outside of the
United States in the International Series at Wembley Stadium in
London."Basically, he said, 'We have openings in London.' So we said
we'd be interested," Lenz said.
"This is the first year the NFL has done three exhibition games there
instead of two, so they needed more help," Hansen said. "We were in line
for the job because we have experience working on the crew and know
what's going on."
"It was a networking thing that worked out for us. They contacted us
and asked," Hansen said. "And who wouldn't want to go to London?"And
they've both stayed in contact with the turf management gurus they met
during their Super Bowl internships.
Lenz leaves on Oct. 16 and will crew for the second game (Atlanta
Falcons and Detroit Lions, Oct. 26). Hansen leaves on Oct. 29 and will
crew for the third matchup (Dallas Cowboys and Jacksonville Jaguars,
Nov. 9). They will each be in London for 12 days.
Greener grass?
While they are thrilled to go to London, they are, after all, really
into turf. And Wembley is, after all, natural grass. That's a whole
different ball game.
"It will be exciting for us because both of our Super Bowls were on artificial turf," Lenz said.
Hansen especially looks forward to experiencing the rapid "changeover"
between games that requires a quick switching out of the team logos on
the field.
"I don't think there's time for maintenance like aerating and top
dressing between the games, so painting logos will be a big part of what
we do," Hansen said
And watching the sold-out games from the sidelines at the world famous
90,000-seat stadium across the pond might even beat — or at least tie —
their Super Bowl experiences.
Lenz and Hansen credit much of their success in garnering world-class
turf gigs to Iowa State turf manager Tim Van Loo. They have worked under
him on the turf crew at Jack Trice Stadium as undergraduates and now
for 30 hours per week as graduate assistants.
"He has prepared us and other ISU students for careers after college," Lenz said.
