Surveying (Laying Out Soccer Fields)

Pre-Surveying: Laying out The (Outer) Corners - Repainting

The paint may be especially formulated for grass, but where it really has staying power is on fabric and leather. Be very careful or wear old clothes and shoes that don't matter. Remember to remove spray can from machine before putting it into a car. Each team will have a jar of wipes to clean hands.
Early in the morning, fields are often very wet with dew or from waterering: sneakers will get sopping wet. You might want to wear leather shoes, overshoes or rubber boots. (Fields paint will also hold well on rubber.)

Paint Machines

Painting The Lines

• Shake paint spray can vigorously for about a minute. You could hold one can in each hand. Take off cap (if the nozzle comes off just put it back on) and put spray can in machine. Please pay a little attention to positioning the nozzle (by rotating the can) so that it slides into the slot, and always pull the lever gently. The drawing shows what happens when the nozzle goes in wrong; it may break the cable and make the machine useless for the day.

  

• Walk the machine very slowly, toddler-speed, with the spray can nozzle right on top of the string, pull lever gently to apply paint, walk slowly to apply a thick layer of paint. Your walking speed determines how thick the paint is laid on. One thick layer of paint will dry slowly and allow some of the paint to drip to the roots of the grass, that is much better than two thin layers of paint that just lay at the surface.
  A can of paint should last about 50 to 70 yards. When your can is almost empty you may notice clouds of white vapor and a change in the sound from the can. Put empty cans upside-down in box, so you know which ones are empty.
• The machines cannot go right up to the pins. Leave space open. DO NOT take can from machine to paint by hand. It takes too much time, you get too close to the vapors, and we don't want paint on the metal stakes. Also, DO NOT remove the pins before the string has been rolled up.
• Resist the temptation to "oversteer" the machine when going in a straight line. The four wheels do a very good job of keeping you going straight. If you try to "micro manage" the steering (making little course corrections), you will invariably end up with a squiggly line.
• Slightly lifting the machine off of the rear wheels makes it much easier to paint the tight curves in the corner arcs and for following the center circle and penalty arcs lines.
• Don't worry about using too much paint. Better too much than too little! But don't spend extra paint on dirt. It will scatter with the sand when the kids run over it.
• If you do make an error in painting that you want to correct, the bottom of your shoe makes a wonderful eraser while the paint is still fresh!
• Ideally, at the end of first lining a field a team of 3 finishes up the job:
  • One person to roll up the string. Do not remove metal stakes before string is rolled up. It's very hard to wind loose string on the spool, when there's no tension.
  • One person with a bucket collects the metal stakes after the string is wound up.
  • One person with a paint machine fills in the gaps in the lines where the stakes were.

Surveying

• First count the metal pins in the bucket (probably 35.) You have to leave with the same number. Metal pins left on the field may cause havoc in the mowing machines, and make the City very unhappy with us. Count them now so you'll know how many to leave with when you're done.
• The Team leader and one or two helpers will lay out the field; on a large field (with goal and penalty areas), a second group could lay out the other side of the field if there is a second diagram with measurements.
  The remaining volunteers could start by shaking the paint cans they're going to use (probably several boxes): shake each can vigorously for about a minute. You can hold one in each hand. It's a happy sound on the fields.
• The corners of the fields (or in parallel fields, the outer corners) have already been set out by the advance team. Find white dots of about 4 to 6 inches diameter, look for the head of a plastic pin in the center (often yellow), and put a metal pin in next to it.
  Attach a string and let a helper walk to the next corner. Put in a metal pin like in the first corner, tighten string, make sure it's straight, (lifting it up in the middle may help) then wind string a few times around the pin and continue to the next corner. (If a corner dot is hard to find you can measure with the tapes from the other dots, see diagrams.)
  The field location map at the bottom of the page will tell you what the goal and touch lines are; but make sure by measuring.
  It's best to start with a touch line. Attach a measuring tape to a corner pin and send a helper to the next corner with it. Tighten and straighten the measuring tape and push pins in on the points marked on the field diagram.
• Most Small Fields are laid out with parallel touch lines (except Hoover School and Palo Verde School. )
  The outer corners have been set out by the pre-survey team. Place metal pins at the outer corners, draw string between them, then lay out measuring tapes and place metal pins at the inner corners and at the intersection points on the outer touch lines, the distances are given in the field diagrams. There is no need to place pins on the inner touch lines. Draw string between the pins and paint the field lines. Take care not to paint on the string between the fields.

  

• On Large Fields, the volunteers can start to paint the touch lines after the midline points have been set, while the leader and his or her helper(s) lay out the inner dimensions of the field (penalty and goal area) according to the diagrams. Put in metal pins at the flex points (intersections of lines) and draw string between them.
• The machines cannot go right up to the pins. Leave space open. DO NOT take can from machine to paint by hand. It takes too much time and you get too close to the vapors. DO NOT remove the pins before the string has been rolled up.
• When the lines are al painted, roll up the string. This can only be done when there's tension on the string, so only take out the metal pins after the string has been rolled up. It's best to have one person wind up the string, and someone walks with him or her to collect the pins, and another volunteer with a paint machine follows and fills in the lines around where the pins were.
• Don't forget to paint:
  • mid circle (set out with wand and the string on small spools, redo with machine)
    lift machine off its rear wheels to make circle or arcs
  • corner arcs (at the four corners of each field) 3 feet radius
  • penalty spot and penalty arc (only on (60x40) fields with goal and penalty areas)
  • a two-feet line at the midpoint of the goal lines (to position the goals)
  • a two-feet line at the midpoint of the mid line (ball position at kickoff)
• Do count the metal pins again before leaving the field.
• We can leave out the 'technical lines.'
• The distance between parallel fields can be 20 or 30 feet, and may be different from what's given in the location map.
• If you notice a mistake in the corners layout of more than a few percent, it should be corrected; if the mistake is less than a few percent it's probably OK.
• When there's a problem with your machine leave a note about what's wrong with it when you return it to my house.
• Please don't overload the machines, and don't let children play with them. Replacing bent axles takes a lot of time.
• It is not wrong to put the empty cans in your garbage, but it is better to dispose of them in the City's Household Hazardous Waste Program. It's usually on the first Saturday of the month, 9 AM - 12 PM.)

Fields Locations

Detailed Fields Diagrams

Specific Fields:

Multifield Sites: Addison School - Barron Park School - Escondido School - Hoover Park - Hoover School - Nixon School - Palo Verde School - Walter Hays School

[No Location Maps]: Fairmeadow School - Eleanor Pardee Park - El Carmelo School -Peers Park - Juana Briones Park - Robles Park

Single Field Sites: Duveneck School - Ohlone School - Ramos Park - Seale Park - JLS 1 (120x71) - JLS 2 (110x68) - JLS 3 (100x68) - (Terman 2) (106x62) - Greer Park -

Pre-Surveying: Laying out The (Outer) Corners
All Dimensions - Repainting - wands

Marco Schuffelen - email