- April 24, 2024
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Every day for the field maintenance workers at Flagler Palm Coast and Matanzas high schools starts the same. They come together, drink some coffee, plan out the day, hope it doesn’t rain, and they work. Hard. It’s work that is constantly rotating depending on the seasons and the sports each school plays. On any given day, there might be lines for soccer that need to be drawn or grass to be mowed on the baseball field. Everyone that steps on the campus can see the results of the workers’ labor, but it isn’t until something isn’t done that most people begin to notice.
Everything within the office shows signs of hard work. The newspaper is coffee-stained, the carpet has tracks of dirt, and the mud boots in the corner are standing by in case rain changes their plans. Haywood could spend hours showing graphs of the way a playing field should be painted for any occasion, and he has the binder full of pages to prove it. The office is well lived in, but welcoming; it’s also a stark contrast to the immaculate campus.
FPC’s maintenance area looks pretty identical, except the crew’s office is being renovated, Ted Turner points out. Turner is the newest kid on the block at FPC, but he may know more about the school than any other employee because today is day two of returning from his retirement. He worked as a field maintenance worker there for 11 years previously. Allen Svitzei starting working at the school while he was still a student there 10 years ago — for free, he quickly points out. John Bryl, who is moving on from his job at FPC, and Paul St. Jacques round out the team. From pressure washing the walls and sidewalks to landscaping and trimming the trees, each worker plays to his own strengths.
"We all make one good person," Turner says.
The workers behind the scenes know every inch of the campus and for them, the devil’s in the details. Ken Seybold, athletics director at Matanzas, brags about the topiary work in front of the school, while Steve DeAugustino, athletics director at FPC, cannot stop pointing out the rows of palm trees planted along the playing fields.
"A lot of schools like coming here because they know it’s an event that’s going to be done the right way," Seybold says.
"These guys are like Superman: They do it all," adds DeAugustino.
In all of their work, the field maintenance workers are quick to point out they enjoy what they do. In fact, once Haywood finishes his workday at Matanzas, you can find him working on his old Ford pickup truck or restoring his barn. Many of the men run side businesses in lawn care or pressure washing, something that no doubt ensures they spend almost every day outdoors. While at times thankless, the job is rewarding when they see how the freshly cut grass blankets the field or how perfectly trimmed each shrub and tree is on campus.
"That’s rewarding to me, nailing it," Haywood says in regards to having rainfall after successfully fertilizing the playing fields.
"At the end of the day, you can look back and say, ‘Look what I did today,’" Bryl adds.
For Vear at Matanzas, being caretaker of the grounds also entails being caretaker of the wildlife around it. Vear prides himself on the work he’s done to help bring back the bluebird population to Matanzas by building numerous birdhouses and attaching them to the fences. Vear also has a watchful eye on the osprey and hawk populations. Haywood keeps tabs on a small alligator that lives in the fenced retention pond.
For the field maintenance workers at FPC and Matanzas high schools, work is never finished. Every workday a new plan is made for the day ahead. The work may go unnoticed by the thousands of people who fill the stadiums throughout the year, but as long as everything looks ready for game time, it’s just the way the workers want it.
Email Jared Mauldin at [email protected].
