SPARTANBURG COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) – Spartanburg County School District 3 won Softball Field of the Year.
The South Carolina Sports Turf Managers Association presented the award to the District Three grounds and maintenance team for Broome High Schools’ Softball Field in 2020. The presentation was delayed due to COVID-19.
District Three’s team includes a director of facilities and grounds, four fulltime employees, including the grounds manager, and two part-time employees.
The crew is responsible for eight facilities, four fields including the softball field and countless tasks, including moving entire schools to a new facility this past summer.
“This is a special group,” Robby Quinn, grounds manager for District Three said. “Some districts have teams that only work on athletics or schools. We do it all and it takes all hands on deck. We come in after hours, we come in on weekends, we know what we have to get done. I’m very lucky to have guys that are willing to do whatever it takes to keep our District looking great. We have a lot of pride.”
Josh Burrell is one of the fulltime employees who has been a part of District Three for more than a decade.
“We really have to depend on one another. We have to run like a machine,” Burrell said. “We each have our special talent, whether it’s chemicals, grounds, schools, or attention to detail. We got it and I was like, “wow!” The time, the effort, everything paid off in the end because we won!”
Matt Harris is the newest member to join the team fulltime. He said his favorite part of the job is helping people.
“Administrators, teachers, parents, children, the first thing they see is our work when they pull on the campus or district office. If we can give them a positive feeling to start their day, that’s a powerful feeling,” Harris said.
District Three’s grounds team met with Clover High School grounds teams after the win to ‘pass the torch,’ so to speak. Clover had won several years in a row, but the District Three team said they don’t plan to give up the title anytime soon.
“We’ve got our eye on back-to-back wins,” Burrell said.
There were many contenders outside of the K-12 education world. Those included past winners for other fields include the Charleston Riverdogs Baseball Field and USC Upstate Golf Complex, as well as several extremely large high schools in South Carolina.
