Day 3 in the UK started at St. George’s Park, Home of the English FA.  Having hotels in the center of a soccer facility is unique and very convenient for us!

As mentioned, the training ground is absolutely fantastic.  Many thanks to Mr. Alan Ferguson and Mrs. Carol Ferguson for their hospitality and kindness.  With studying reinforcement, in particular Desso, the 1st couple of days of the trip.. it was fitting that the Desso sewing processes was taking place on a field for us to observe.  Very interesting and thought-provoking stuff!

Desso Sewed Into Sand

The 2nd stop of the day was at the Sports Turf Research Institute (STRI).  Know for their research and consultancy around the world, visiting STRI was even more interesting than I could have ever expected.  Many thanks to Dr. Christian Spring and Mr. Ian Anderson for the tour and the in-depth discussions.  The research trials at STRI were eye-opening on a few different topics related to high traffic grass fields… topics that we will be discussing in the future on this blog.

Upon leaving STRI, we next stopped in at Headingley Carnegie Stadium.  Home of Leeds Rugby.  Unique to anything I’ve ever seen, Leeds Headingley is back to back with the Leeds Cricket Ground, actually sharing a stand with it.  Fantastic environment for both sports!  Also fantastic is the pitch produced by Mr. Jason Booth & Mr. Ryan Golding.  Wow.  What great information they shared with me and an even more fascinating story on reconstruction that is a bold elimination of the difference in US and UK groundsmanship.  Many thanks to them for their time.  Great great stuff…  Obviously more to come on that!

Mr. Ryan Golding & Mr. Jason Booth of Headingley Carnegie Stadium

The day ended with spending time with Mr. Carl Pass, owner of Premier Pitches. Many thanks to him for his time and hospitality! Premier Pitches is one of the most specialized field contractors in the world for field renovation.  Mr. Pass’s unique and special Desso renovation tools aided in the birth of many of the renovation techniques discussed on this blog.  Many thanks to Mr. Pass for his time and his hospitality.

Premier Pitches Renovating Desso at St. George’s Park This Past Spring

2 more days left in the UK before heading off to Madrid for the weekend…  Day 3 absolutely was eye-opening and has aided in many, many new ideas being created.  I am looking forward to more great things to come!!