Foxes' field of dreams: Ashley Ridge's award-winning athletic fields a labor of love

When Bobby Behr was named athletic director at Ashley Ridge High School in 2008, he knew he would have to deal with scheduling, budgets, travel arrangements and personnel decisions at the new school in Dorchester County.

Little did he know the position also would require him to be an expert in sports turf management.

As part of his job, Behr also oversees the athletic fields at his high school and takes a hands-on, green-thumb approach. Behr, athletics groundskeeper Adam Davis and four student volunteers have turned the fields into green oases, and the softball field was recently named the national field of the year for the Parks and Schools Softball Division by the SportsTurf Managers Association.

Behr and his staff had to submit 30 pictures of the softball field and a 20-page report explaining how the athletic department manages the field.

The paperwork was the easy part.

Behr, who is also the school's assistant principal, took an online class from the University of Georgia and earned a certificate in sports turf management.

He and Adams spend endless hours getting the fields ready for competition. During the spring, Davis cuts the grass on the baseball and softball fields three times a week. He takes such care in his work that he uses a golf greens mower to primp the infield. During football season, he will spend two to three days lining the field, painting the Swamp Fox logo at midfield and decorating the end zone.

"It's a lot of work, but I wouldn't have it any other way," Davis said. "In this economy, where else can you say you have a job and that you have won a national award. I like what I do, but I do it to make the players, parents and fans proud of their fields and school."

Behr, who also gets help from school groundskeeper Steve Weaver along with student volunteers Ivan Moreno, Gage Holsey, Grant Opoulos and Cameron Bulla, says his job is to put down the fertilizer and pesticides.

"My job is to make it green," Behr said. "Adam cuts it, stripes it and makes it look pretty."

The Swamp Fox grounds-keeping crew isn't perfect. Behr said the baseball field would have won national field of the year honors if not for a mistake. The crew put chemicals on the dirt areas of the baseball field to kill weeds. However, the herbicide spread onto the infield grass, causing unsightly splotches.

"We got lazy putting down that stuff," Behr said. "We had to resod."

The softball and baseball fields, the football stadium and the practice fields have been a work in progress since the school opened in time for the 2008-09 academic year.

Behr was on the phone with the turf experts at Clemson University and the University of South Carolina right from the beginning. In one of its first chores, the Swamp Fox grounds crew installed 23,000 linear feet of French drains to help with rain and standing water.

Today, the budget includes $35,000 to keep the field in mint condition. The school has about a dozen different lawn mowing devices and a stockpile of field paint.

Behr says his crew uses 400 gallons of white field paint a year to line the fields and another 200 gallons of cardinal paint to use in the school's logos and in the end zone of the football field. Adams spends 500 hours a year just painting the fields.

And then there's sand. The school uses 840 tons of sand per year to repair the fields after usage.

The football field gets the most damage with divots caused by cleats and contact.

Long after the crowd goes home, Davis will top off the field, getting it ready for the next contest.

"I have a bachelor of arts degree and 2 1/2 master's degrees," Behr said. "But what makes it complete is turf management. Sometimes, you have to wear many hats."

And in this case, be blessed with a green thumb.

Follow Phil Bowman on Twitter at @pandcphil