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Skill Details

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Skill Category

Is Accredited

NoYes

Is Apprenticeship

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Skill Overview

"This occupation is found in a wide range of different sports and venues, for example, athletics, bowls, cricket, croquet, football, hockey, equestrian, rugby league and union, and tennis. The role will primarily be carried out in an outdoors environment and sites will range from general grass root sports surfaces, sports clubs, schools, up to international stadiums and training facilities. Employing organisations may be of varying sizes depending on the geographical coverage of the organisation. However, sports turf operatives are required in all locations. Employers vary from small niche organisations to larger ones including Local Authorities and professional facilities.
The broad purpose of the occupation is to assist in the day-to-day preparation, maintenance, and upkeep of grounds and sports pitches to the highest possible standards. This includes both public and private sports facilities that are available for use at all levels from grass roots to professional sport and ensures facilities are available to support the Government policy of increasing physical activity. A sports turf operative will assist in various tasks including the preparing and renovation of sports surfaces, creating, marking out, and preparing sports turf playing surfaces for use, and will use machinery and equipment when required. They will also apply irrigation to sports turf surfaces and ensure maintenance of drainage. They ensure that safe working practices and health and safety legislation and regulations are complied with at all times.
These will all be done whilst ensuring carrying out safe working practices at all times and ensuring health and safety legislation and guidance is adhered to. Most of the work will be done in an outdoor environment, and duties will depend on the seasonality of the relevant sports throughout the year. There may be a requirement to work additional hours leading up to the start of a season or event.
In their daily work, an employee in this occupation interacts with colleagues within their respective Grounds Maintenance department including a higher-level manager who they would report to. They would also liaise with other employees at their establishment of work such as maintenance staff, gardeners, or estate workers. They may also be required to have some customer-facing tasks dealing with members of the public, sports personnel, players, or coaching staff.
An employee in this occupation will be responsible for reporting to their appropriate line manager to ensure they can carry out their own work to specific plans and within agreed deadlines. They are required to ensure all their actions are carried out in line with current health and safety legislation. They are also responsible for the maintenance, renovation, and overall appearance of one or more sports turf surfaces in accordance with the needs of the particular sport. Maintaining an appropriate quality playing surface that reflects the carrying capacity of that surface to ensure that a sustainable playing surface is provided."

Learning Objectives

Duties of the job role covered as part of the Apprenticeship:
Duty 1 Undertake routine grounds preparation, maintenance, renovation, and general upkeep of all sports turf surfaces (e.g. natural turf, hybrid turf, artificial turf).																																
Duty 2 Prepare a surface for play in line with the relevant rules of each sport's national governing bodies.																																
Duty 3 Prepare and establish ground for grassed areas for sport.																																
Duty 4 Use machinery, equipment, and vehicles in accordance with organisational requirements, manufacturers’ instructions and Health and Safety legislation.																																
Duty 5 Identify and communicate faults with equipment and machinery to relevant personnel.																																
Duty 6 Maintain the cleanliness of machinery, equipment, sports grounds, and work areas.																																
Duty 7 Ensure a safe working environment and the adoption of safe working practices.																																
Duty 8 Assist with the movement of equipment and materials, and their installation around the sports ground and playing areas.																																
Duty 9 Maintain effectiveness of sports turf irrigation and drainage systems.																																
Duty 10 Dispose of waste in accordance with organisational procedures, legal requirements and taking into account environmental sustainability.																																
Duty 11 Identify and communicate incidence of sports turf weeds, pests, diseases, and disorders.																																
Duty 12 Use integrated prevention and control methods to reduce the incidence of diseases, disorders, pests and weeds on turf.																																
Duty 13 Mark out playing surfaces (including arcs and squaring off using the 3-4-5 method).

Funding Option

Funding Eligibility

For apprentices aged 16-21 the training costs are fully funded by the government. For apprentices aged over 21, there is a 5% co-investment which would be paid by the employer. Alternatively, the training costs can be covered by utilising the Apprenticeship Levy Fund.

Skill Price ex VAT (£)

Skill Length

Skill Level

Skill Timings

Delivery Method

Skill Eligibility (Prerequisites for skill/software requirements)

Applicant must be eligible for ESFA funding and in a job role where the duties in learning objectives can be undertaken as part of normal day to day activities

Last Application Date

Skill Enrolment

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