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Louisville City FC’s Aaron Fink voted USL Groundskeeper of the Year presented by BRANDT

By USLSoccer.com Staff, 12/01/22, 11:00AM EST

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Fink, Lynn Family Stadium staff honored for maintaining top playing surface in changing climates over campaign

TAMPA, Fla. – The United Soccer League announced today that Louisville City FC’s Aaron Fink had been named the 2022 USL Groundskeeper of the Year presented by BRANDT. Fink and his grounds staff at Lynn Family Stadium are the inaugural winners of the award.

As part of the award Fink and one of his staff will receive a trip to the 2023 Sports Turf Managers Association Conference courtesy of BRANDT. The SFMA Conference is set to be held between January 16-19 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

“On behalf of BRANDT, we’re excited to present this award to Aaron Fink and his crew at Louisville City,” said Karl Barnhart, Chief Marketing Officer at BRANDT. “Great sports field maintenance goes beyond providing luscious looking fields on game day: it’s about ensuring the turfgrass is healthy and safe all year long to help reduce risks to the players and increase the level of play.”

“A lot of times we don’t get recognized for what we do unless we’re the ones screwing up, so I think it’s an awesome opportunity for our team to get acknowledged for hard work,” said Fink. “When I told the guys about this, I thought back to two times this year they really earned it. The first game of the year, we were shoveling snow off the field. Then in mid-July, we had the USL Summer Showcase here when it was 100 degrees out. Those spots epitomized this year when the team was willing to do hard work in some harsh conditions. This is a group award, in my opinion. There’s not one person who won that award.”

Fink is joined in the Lynn Family Stadium groundskeeping staff by three full-time staff – Darrell Clark, assistant groundskeeper, Matt Skidmore, head groundskeeper at the Lynn Family Sports Vision & Training Center, and J.R. Williams, assistant groundskeeper at the Lynn Family Sports Vision & Training Center – and two interns – Nolan Dumstorf and Michael Netherton.

Both Lynn Family Stadium and the Lynn Family Sports Vision & Training Center utilize the same Tahoma 31 Bermudagrass, and Fink’s staff use BRANDT’S Parco-Root and MegAleX to help maintain the natural playing surfaces.

“Parco-Root helps the rooting around the field, and MegAleX helps us get through stressful periods,” said Fink. “Both are used spring through fall at the stadium and training facility fields.”

Voting for the 2022 USL Groundskeeper of the Year award presented by BRANDT was conducted among players, technical staffs, and coaching staffs in both the USL Championship and USL League One.

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