Photo by Sarah Finnegan.
Mike Hill poses on the fields of Wald Park on the morning of June 8. Hill is in charge of maintaining the recreational fields in Vestavia Hills.
Mike Hill never expected this.
The Vestavia Hills resident had sold golf course equipment for a handful of years before starting his own company, Specialty Turf Supply. He planned to do more of the same, selling equipment to golf courses and athletic facilities.
Fast forward to today, and his company has evolved to include maintenance of many of the athletic fields for local high school teams. Hill has 15 employees and 80 athletic fields to maintain, including sports fields in Vestavia Hills, Indian Springs, Oak Mountain, at Samford University and more. The company has been contracted in the past to do work at Auburn University.
When Hill meets with potential clients, his team evaluates the fields and provides recommendations based on needs. This is where the process may shock most people. Programs are often built over three years based on needs. It can take three to four years to get a field turned around from a fertility standpoint.
“It usually takes a little bit of time to kind of get a field back in the condition that meets the standards of the industry,” Hill said.
The work fluctuates based on the sport. Baseball is more hands-on than soccer, for instance, due to having dirt, a mound, chalk and warning track. It requires specialized equipment, some of which can cost as much as a luxury car. Baseball field renovation can include setting the distance for bases, home plate and mounds; building the pitching mound; leveling infield dirt; and more. Soccer, an all-grass sport, doesn’t include that much.
“There are a lot of things that go into it based on the sport that it is,” Hill said.
There’s also aeration, seeding, line painting and irrigation to worry about, all of which needs to be done at just the right time for a good playable field.
Hill said he sees many places where fields have been built but no plan has been forged to maintain them. Consequently, a two-year-old field ends up looking as if it’s aged 15 years. It then can take close to two years to completely eradicate the weeds and get the turf headed in the right direction again.
“It seems like we’re always having an opportunity to do different things,” Hill says.
Hill believes the formula to the success in this niche field is an attention to detail plus a strong level of commitment and care.
“I never expected it to be where it is today,” Hill says. “It’s been a blessing. The people I’ve got have been great. I’ve got some really good guys, and we’ve just been able to grow it over the last 10 years to where it is.”
The main draw for Hill and others in the athletic field maintenance business?
“It’s a great opportunity to take something and transform it,” Hill said.
