5.2 Not doing an activity
5.2.1 Introduction
1 Why bother carrying out the maintenance activities that were identified in Module 3 ‘Maintenance activities’?
It’s all very well saying this or that activity needs to be done, but what are the consequences of not doing it?
How much of a negative impact will there be if it is missed out?
2 Unfortunately for many groundskeeping maintenance activities the negative impact is not immediate and gradually builds-up over time.
This often results in laypeople, administrators and senior managers questioning the purpose and worth of some activities, especially if they are looking to save money and reduce budgets in the short term.
It is therefore a good idea for groundskeepers to be aware of at least one problem and impact that can arise if they didn’t carry out an activity or just didn’t do it as often as it should be done in the production of a football pitch.
3 Activity: For this part of the course, we would like you to think of one (or more if you want to) negative consequence, for each of the activities we have identified, that could easily happen if we didn’t bother doing it, did it very poorly and ineffectively, or didn’t do it as often as should be carried out in the production of a desirable football pitch.
We have kept the order of the maintenance activities as they appear in Module 3.1 ‘Work activities: Introduction’. Do also bear in mind that not all of these activities will be required on a pitch because this will depend on the construction type, available budget, whether some activities are substituted for others and especially the quality grade of the pitch.
These negative consequences can then start to help build a picture of why the activities can actually help in producing a good football pitch. You may notice that these are related to, and build on, the comments given for the activity exercise in Module 3.2 ‘The need for certain activities’.
4 For each maintenance activity we have included a question to help with the learning process.
Take care reading through the questions.
We are looking at inadequate implementations of an activity, so the question will be focusing on a negative aspect rather than the more common focus of something that should or could be done.
Read the question slowly (well, not too slowly) to help better understand what is required. Always select the most likely option from the selections given.