Most of us spend bowl season picking up ideas from the ballgames we watch. Here's an idea that is not real exciting, but it does make life a little easier and save time.

 

 

Today I marked our practice field. First, I scalped the lines so the paint would stay. Then, painted the lines. It only took 4 aerosol cans because we only mark the 10's for practice and it takes less than 30 minutes. Because grass is not growing, the lines last alot longer. Inseason, we have to mark it at least once a week.

 

We will do our spring practice some time in March. Keeping it marked, I won't need to stretch lines to get it ready for the spring.... which is very time consuming. After the spring, I will let it go so we will have straighter lines in July when it gets restrung.

 

I've been around HS football my entire life. If there is a young coach out there that needs help on how to complete mundane, time-consuming tasks as quickly and efficiently as possible, email me at [email protected].

 

Happy New Year!

I saw a team that actually sprayed grass killer on the lines of the practice field. During practice they just have a clean dirt line every 10 yards.

I saw a team that actually sprayed grass killer on the lines of the practice field. During practice they just have a clean dirt line every 10 yards.

 

We did that at Paris. This way is a little more work but like this better.

We did that at Paris. This way is a little more work but like this better.

 

I used to help stripe the field each week with a group of dads, when my son played. Running twine or strings was never my favorite task. The first time each summer was of course the worst. We only did the game field, coaches did the practice field.

I’ve been marking fields for over 10 years, so I’ve gotten fairly efficient at getting this job done. Marking just the 10’s for practice is a good idea that I hadn’t considered. We usually use two markers and a second set of strings. We can usually get the whole field done in under two hours with 6 people for the first marking of the year.

I’ve been marking fields for over 10 years, so I’ve gotten fairly efficient at getting this job done. Marking just the 10’s for practice is a good idea that I hadn’t considered. We usually use two markers and a second set of strings. We can usually get the whole field done in under two hours with 6 people for the first marking of the year.

 

Another great shortcut, stole this idea from Boyle County..... for the numbers, put a line/hashmark at 8 yards from the sideline. One yard below that is the bottom of the numbers. One yard above it is the top of the numbers.

 

I marked that off one night at a MS game at Boyle. While I was out walking on the field, in between plays of course, one of the old Boyle supporters started getting after me pretty good.

 

Turned out, it was Coach Morris Allen Stewart who coached with my Dad at Boyle for 5 years and was one of my Dad's best friends. Coach Stewart's been getting after me pretty good for 50 years.

 

Along those lines, one day my oldest son(when he was in elementary school) said the guys were holding him upside down over the whirlpool, threatening to dunk him in the ice water, head first. I asked him, "Where was Coach Ullery?" He said, "Coach Ullery is the one that had me by the ankles!" Lol

While I’m pretty good at marking the field, I’ve got plenty of stories about screwing the job up too. Once, when marking the high school field, someone who hadn’t done the job before, stenciled the “2” on the 20 yard line backwards. Another time, while marking the practice field, one group connected the goal line to the 5 yard line on the other side of the field. We didn’t catch it until they had had gotten to the 30. And plenty of times we’ve waited too long to repaint the lines, and end up painting very crooked lines because too much of the lines had faded. If anyone thinks they can walk a straight line without a string or visible line to follow...trust me, you can’t.

While I’m pretty good at marking the field, I’ve got plenty of stories about screwing the job up too. Once, when marking the high school field, someone who hadn’t done the job before, stenciled the “2” on the 20 yard line backwards. Another time, while marking the practice field, one group connected the goal line to the 5 yard line on the other side of the field. We didn’t catch it until they had had gotten to the 30. And plenty of times we’ve waited too long to repaint the lines, and end up painting very crooked lines because too much of the lines had faded. If anyone thinks they can walk a straight line without a string or visible line to follow...trust me, you can’t.

 

Some of us can't walk a straight line WITH the string.

 

Your story about the goalline and the 5.... I did that on the MS practice field one day, and that was marking every 10 yards. Yes, I have to be really bad to screw up at that level. It was really ugly.

Coach,

 

Try spraying those lines with a darker color. It will stay on that bermuda for a long, long time. Back around 2009 or 2010, we started painting our game field for any home playoff game in our dark navy. Looked good all winter and early spring.

Coach,

 

Try spraying those lines with a darker color. It will stay on that bermuda for a long, long time. Back around 2009 or 2010, we started painting our game field for any home playoff game in our dark navy. Looked good all winter and early spring.

 

I like that idea. We overseed with fescue/rye so it will become green, eventually. You can probably tell from the picture, it is still in transition.

 

In transition.... would you still do navy or would red be ok?

 

Thanks for the suggestion!

We tried a splash of red on the game field with our navy this year. It still looks pretty good. I was worried it would turn pink... But still showing red now. If I can remember, I'll take a pic when I head back to school.

 

Also, like you, we used one long red line down our practice field on each side representing the top of the numbers. I've seen schools use that as the "divider" for their secondary in terms of alignment. We used ours to let our kids know where the numbers were.

This is one job that drives me crazy. There is a running joke of all the different things I’d rather happen than have to stripe the field. Back in the day people use to use all kinds of things to kill the grass.

 

One trick is to start at the 50 and work toward each endzone. That way the small accumulation of errors doesn’t add up to large ones.

Have you considered purchasing and installing a set of field markers like these. We have them on our game and practice fields. It takes a little time to find the holes the first time you paint each year but don’t have to paint the field all off season.

The thing with those (and I like them) is over time they shift some. If you share a field soccer players tend to kick them around when they get bored.

 

There are things that put in the ground to mark gas lines and the such. They are designed so you can mow over them and they are fine. You can buy the sports versions but the prices are often jacked up due to the audience.

[ATTACH]69576[/ATTACH]

Have you considered purchasing and installing a set of field markers like these. We have them on our game and practice fields. It takes a little time to find the holes the first time you paint each year but don’t have to paint the field all off season.

 

We have a set. We also use marking whiskers. I should have made clear in my post.... when I mark it in January, the lines are still visible from the season so I don’t have to restring. On our MS field yesterday, I checked to make sure all those markers were still there and visible.