Performance Assessment of
Sport Surfaces - Assisting Councils to manage sports field
assets
Performance Assessment of Sports Surfaces (PASS) is a
system developed from the Best Use Modelling for Sport
Surfaces Project, a national project, carried out by the
Sports Turf Institute and Queensland DPI in partnership
with Parks and Leisure Australia.
In addition to other uses PASS provides councils with
a system to objectively measure and benchmark playing
surface quality. PASS also provides tools that can be
used to plan the future development and upgrading of council-managed
sports turf facilities.
Ways in which PASS is being used by councils to guide
management decisions include:
Benchmarking playing surface quality
and safety
The PASS system is designed to enable a council to establish
and update a web-based database on their sports fields,
with a particular focus on playing surface quality and
safety. A standardised system for objectively measuring
sports field performance has been developed. This system
can be tailored to meet the specific needs and budget
of a council.
The recommended process is for an annual external audit
(ideally over the winter use period) in conjunction with
a quarterly self-audit of surface properties (such as
% ground cover).
Auditing objectively assesses sub-surface as well as
surface properties, including: depth of thatch, effective
rooting depth, soil health, level of soil compaction and,
for sand carpet or topdressed fields, the degree of contamination
of the top layer of sand.
Surface quality and performance measurements include:
ground cover (including weed content) turf species composition,
surface hardness, soil penetration and shear resistance
and surface evenness. It is anticipated that most of these
surface measurements could be done internally by a council
employee, after basic training in methodology.
In the event that a more in-depth analysis is required
(e.g. if there is a suspected drainage problem) PASS allows
additional tests to be incorporated. These tests include:
water infiltration rate and internal drainage rate measurement,
a full survey of field levels, an irrigation system audit
and an environmental compliance audit (ECA).
Some councils are opting to have their sports fields
tested seasonally, or even monthly, in order to pick up
any seasonal variation, particularly in ground cover and
surface hardness. Where testing is limited we advise the
main testing to be carried out in the winter months when,
in general, field performance is at its worst and issues
such as poor ground cover, restricted drainage and worm
activity are evident.
The Database
A key component of PASS is the database. The database
provides a secure on-line relational database for the
storage of council information, sports park information
- including management inputs and monthly usage, soil
testing information, performance information, and climate
data. Councils are able to input, edit and access their
own data and view reports comparing their fields to, for
example, the national average. The information produced
can be exported to desktop applications like Microsoft
Excel and photos can also be stored and linked to a given
sports field. The storage of performance characteristic
data for a given field enables comparisons with historic
data (generated over time) for a field, to show trends
over time and whether or not the expected performance
characteristics are being achieved. The database also
enables the user to generate reports specific to a given
sports field, city council, and as the availability of
information increases, on a regional or national level.
Associated tools
Participating councils are provided with access to a range
of tools to aid analysis and planning of the sports field
resource.
These tools include:
