This staff goes unnoticed by the naked eye but it is the reason why wide receivers can make sharp cuts, soccer goalies can plant their feet without slipping, umpires can call a ball fair or foul and the playing surfaces look professional on game day.

To some the members are known as gardeners and people who mow grass, but to Eastern athletics these people are known as the grounds crew.

The 20-member ground staff may have an easy job, when in all actuality the members will face many strenuous challenges this spring as they try to focus on presenting safe, quality fields to the Eastern athletic teams.

If this spring season is anything like those of the past, Justin Perry, the superintendent of grounds, should expect some improvements to be needed.

Perry said the baseball and softball fields, as well as the tennis courts, need a lot of care.

Sometimes the temperature and the harsh conditions cause the turf on the baseball and softball fields to dry up. There is a chance the bitter, cold weather could cause freeze damage to it.

Baseball doesn’t have a home game until March 23, and softball doesn’t have a home game until March 24.

The tennis courts had caused trouble in the past couple of seasons.The men’s and women’s tennis teams don’t play outside on campus at Darling Courts until the middle of March.

“The tennis courts also have problems with frost heaving,” Perry said.”This is when the ground goes through freeze/thaw cycles and the asphalt and concrete shift.”

However, as in every problem there is a solution.

These solutions often comes before the winter hits Eastern’s campus because the grounds crew always does preparatory tasks to keep the fields and courts maintained.

“The baseball and softball fields receive fertilizers in the late fall to help build the root system and promote early spring green up,” Perry said. “They are mowed up until they stop growing in November and December.”

While the hardball fields take most of the effort to prepare them for winter, the tennis courts take barely any. In fact, the most Perry said his crew has to do is take down the nets and wind screens so that they don’t suffer seasonal damage.

Even though the tennis courts take the least to prepare them for winter, the fact that the courts may resurface with cracks and uneven playing surfaces after the snow melts is cause for concern.

As for the coming season, the grounds crew will get back to work on the spring fields as soon as conditions allow. Head softball coach Kim Schuette said one of the ground crew’s main focuses this spring will be the softball field and its newly installed turf.

“Our infield is a new surface and was added in the middle of the spring last year,” Schuette said. “As of this past fall, the infield surface had still not yet settled and we have been working with the grounds crew on trying to make it as solid as possible.”

Schuette said one of the positive things that could come out of this winter is that it may harden up the turf and make it more compact.

While the grounds crew sets the backbone for Eastern athletes to be able to dig their spikes into strong-rooted grass, they also provide the lines on all of the fields on Eastern’s campus.

Prior to each baseball and softball game, the grounds crew paints new baselines on the fields.

These fresh, white lines help the teams and the umpires determine fair and foul balls, what is inside and outside of the baseline and establish a batters box.

Also, in the fall, the grounds crew is responsible for painting end lines, goal lines, baselines, yard mark, and more for the athletes who perform during that season.

However, fans should always remember that before there was a home run, a touchdown, an ace, a goal or a championship, there is a grounds crew who cared for the field that the Panthers win on.

Alex McNamee can be reached at 581-7944

or [email protected]