Author: timothyw419

The final day! It has been a great time, and I’m sad it’s over. I’ve learned and seen a lot, but the most important part was that it was an unforgettable experience. To wrap up my time at Boshamer Stadium, we did some final field work before Carolina practiced and the rest of the NCAA teams arrived for the upcoming Super Regionals this weekend. Tomorrow they will all begin practices, so the field needed to be in pristine condition. Once that was finished, I went to a lunch meeting with Casey. We met with a man who is in charge of designing and building every field/athletic facility at UNC and other large D1 schools. It was really interesting to learn about his process. He worked at UNC for 30 years, dealing specifically with UNC’s fields and facilities, but now he started his own company working and traveling to universities all around the nation. Great guy! After the lunch meeting, we went over to the brand new, state of the art soccer/facility, which he built. It was his first time seeing it in person, so it was cool to hear his reaction on the final product. From there, there wasn’t much to do, so I said my goodbyes, took one last look at the beautiful Boshamer Stadium, and headed home. The guys there were all super nice to me. Again, they told me to come back and visit anytime, and, if I went to school at UNC, I would have a job! I really lucked out. It’s sad that it’s over, but all good things have to come to an end at some point. Till next time Carolina! As always, It’s a great day to be a Tar Heel.

Peace out.

Today might have been the best day of my internship yet. There wasn’t much to do at Boshamer Stadium (baseball), so I went with my host, Casey (the Director of Turf Management and Athletic Fields/Stadiums), to prepare the football practice fields for an upcoming camp. My job was to drive a gator with a set of large brooms over the turf to groom it and to ensure the field was in perfect condition. Then, we measured out the grass football field and painted it so it would be game ready. Also while we were there, we fixed an electrical issue that caused the field lights not to turn on! For lunch, we went to Suttons Drug Store which is a fantastic, old food counter on Franklin Street that only the locals know about. I’ve been several times before and was dying to go back. After lunch, the real fun started. Since there wasn’t much to do at the fields, Casey took me on a tour of all of the athletic facilities. Boy are their athletics loaded! First, I took a tour of the brand new Lacrosse and Soccer stadium. They just built brand new locker rooms and facilities there, so I got to go inside and look around. Then we went over to the women’s basketball stadium. I saw their locker room too, but also one of the campuses main equipment rooms. I was in there for only a couple minutes, but I saw at least 10 things that I wanted! the players get so much free merchandise! From there we went to the football stadium. I got a look at their locker room, weight room, equipment room, living room, their tunnel onto the field (which I got to go on), and their media room. They had so many rooms, and everything was so nice! While I was there, I met the defense coach Dre Bly. He played in the NFL for over ten years and is in the NFL Hall of Fame. I even got to play mini basketball with him afterward. After we got done at football, we went over to the Dean Dome. That is where the Mens basketball team plays. Similarly, I went into their locker room, film room, bath room area, living room, and I even went out onto the court! There, I met the assistant coach Hubert Davis. He had a very lengthy and successful career in the NBA! All in all, today was a fantastic day because I was able to contribute a lot to the fields, but also because I got super rare access to all of the stadiums and the behind the scenes areas! I am super sad that my internship is coming to an end, because I am having so much fun. However, Casey said that if I go to school at UNC then he could get me a part-time job at the fields! Haha! It’s a great day to be a Tar Heel.

Today was another quiet day at UNC. The baseball team had their first practice today since they clinched a spot in the Super Regionals Sunday night. The majority of the morning was spent preparing the field for practice and ensuring that it was in pristine condition in every way possible. Once the field was all set, we went down to the new field hockey stadium and we blew all of the leaves off of the turf. After that, we went over to the new indoor football facility (a picture of it is on my Day 1 post) and we blew off trash, papers and anything else that got on the turf. We finished that a little early, so we picked up a football and played catch. It was really cool to be able to use the same facilities that incredible athletes use. From there, we got lunch. Following lunch, I sat in on a staff meeting that went over the budget and upcoming projects. It was super interesting to be able to listen to what they might build to add on to their athletic facilities. I even got to give my opinion! Anyways, today was a great day. I learned a lot and I had fun doing it. The people I get to work with are super nice to me as well. It’s a great day to be a Tar Heel!

Today was a short day, but still a great one. Friday thru Sunday the first round of the College World Series playoffs took place at Boshamer Stadium at UNC. The Tar Heels won the regional Sunday night, which means that this upcoming weekend, UNC will be hosting the next round of the playoffs – the super regionals. Since the Heels won last night, the coach gave them the day off of practice. This meant this it was our, the grounds crew, time to rebuild the field. Four D1 teams tore up the field during 6 games and a heavy rainstorm on Friday. Today, we were tasked with tearing apart the mound, the home plate, and both bullpens. This consisted of removing all of the dirt on top, scraping the hardened clay, applying new clay and then new soft dirt as a top layer. We started around 8:30 and we finished around noon. Since the team didn’t have practice, there was nothing else for us to maintain or work on. So, we headed home! It’s a great day to be a Tar Heel!

The games are underway at Boshamer Stadium at UNC! Today I began the day by setting up the field for the first tournament game and made sure everything followed NCAA regulations. There were many officials from NCAA who were checking every tiny detail of the stadium and telling us what we needed to do to ensure fair and legal play. After this, we had some down time before UNC and UNCW would come out to warm up before their game at 2. We had lunch catered for us and we had to wear special event shirts. I felt really cool because I could walk anywhere I wanted and I could go into the staff only tent, park in the reserved parking, go underneath the stadium and in the locker room, and go on the field. I am really happy that I chose this as my WEP because so far it has been a really cool experience that I would never have been able to do otherwise. The first game was in the final inning, the game was tied and runners were on the bases and UNC was batting – they were about to win. Then it started pouring and there was lightning. So, we had to pull the tarp over the field. I have always seen other people do this when I’ve been to pro or college games, but it was really fun to be able to do it myself. While it was raining, we sat in the dugout and talked to the team. They were upset about the rain delay. The game was delayed for two hours and it still is, so I headed home. I am not sure if they will be able to fit in the second game tonight, so I think they will have to postpone it until tomorrow. In the end, I had another fantastic day at the baseball stadium. The people are great, and the job is great. It’s a great day to be a Tar Heel.

 

The battle for a spot in the College World Series has begun. The regionals are now underway at Boshamer Stadium in Chapel Hill! Today I spent the day monitoring and maintaining the field as teams practiced all day. It was really cool to see all the teams and to meet the coaches. We worked with the operations crew to aid them in setting up the “front of the house” stuff that all of the fans will see. Also, we had to hang a lot of “NCAA” banners and wall stickers because since it is a televised NCAA event, it is regulation. It was a really busy day today, but we are all ready for the games to begin tomorrow. They’ve put me to work doing various jobs on and off the field including watering the grass, placing sod, raking the infield, posting NCAA advertisements, and a lot more. Towards the end of the day, we had to go over to the football stadium and get a refrigerator and relocate it into the baseball locker room. Tomorrow the first game is at 2pm, so everyone will be rushing around in the morning getting everything ready for all of the fans to come! It’s a great day to be a Tar Heel.

 

What a long day! Hot, Hot, very hot. I think I can say that I am the only person doing the Work Experience program that has blisters on my hands – but they were worth it! Today started just like yesterday. I worked with the Baseball field crew to ensure that the field is in pristine condition for the upcoming tournament. We also began marking the field with paint and repairing the grass in the outfield. They sent me over to one of the practice fields to cut up cubes of grass and bring them over to the field. Then we would dig holes in the outfield, where grass had died, and replaced it. It was like I was playing Minecraft! Towards the end of the day, I got to watch the team practice – and they’re really good! All four teams who are practicing in this regionals arrive tomorrow, and they each have a designated time to practice. UNC, UNCW, Liberty and Tennessee will be at the field tomorrow! I am super excited. The work I did today was really rewarding because I will be able to watch the games from the outfield or on TV and see the beautiful field and say “I did that.” Also, I got to go over to the football stadium because they are doing a huge grass removal process. By the end of the summer, they will have replaced all of the grass for turf! They really put me to work today, but it was a load of fun. I can’t wait for more. It’s a great day to be a Tar Heel.

 

Well, that was awesome. My very long day began at 7am in UNC’s Office of Athletics. Today I worked closely with the Turf Management people at UNC’s Boshamer Stadium (the baseball field) to get the field ready for, not only their practices today, but for when they host the regionals of the College World Series Thursday thru Monday. Four college teams in this region will be playing at UNC to compete for a spot in the next round of the playoffs. While it was incredibly hot and the sun beat down on us, they put me to work doing very precise maintenance on the field ensuring it is national TV ready. You might be saying “Yard work in the 95 degree heat? No thank you!” but I was all for it. I got a tour of most of the athletic facilities and got to meet a lot of great people and coaches. In fact, I missed Coach Roy Williams by five minutes! Anyways, being in the UNC Athletic environment was really fun and made me really excited to be part of the upcoming tournament. I could feel the hype with all of the team and staff which made it really enjoyable. Hanging out with the baseball team and the athletic management staff was awesome. I know that I am going to have an incredible next week and I am really looking forward to it. While I will be working mostly with the grounds crew, on Thursday I will be working closely with the operational team to learn how a huge NCAA event is put together and advertised for! It’s a great day to be a Tar Heel.