The Ohio State University

Turfgrass Science majors John Torres (left) and Ben Jackson set off recently to undertake internships in the English Premier League.  John is interning at Arsenal Football Club under the tutelage of Head Groundsman Steve Braddock, and Ben is at Blackburn Rovers Football Club with Head Groundsman Steve Patrick. The internships are from early June until mid-September.

This is the third consecutive year that Arsenal FC have hosted a student from Ohio State. The students are based at the training academy and are involved with renovation of all the practice pitches (fields) in preparation for the playing season starting again in August. Practice pitches are typically sand-based and similar in construction to the main stadium field. Each field is stripped of vegetation, re-graded and re-seeded in a 5-6 week window. This aggressive renovation, done each close-season, is done to limit organic matter accumulation on the playing surface and to reduce populations of Poa annua.

This is the first year that Blackburn Rovers FC have taken a student from Ohio State. Through collaboration with Steve Patrick and administration at BRFC, Ben will be based at the training academy and housed by the club. His salary has been sponsored by Brad Friedel. Brad is an Ohio native that was the goal keeper for the US national soccer team from 1991-2005.  He played at Columbus Crew before becoming the goal keeper for BRFC eight years ago. As BRFC's longest serving player, Brad is much-loved by his team and fans in England. In addition to his role in the English Premier League, Brad also recently launched his Premier Soccer Academies in Lorain, Ohio.

Both of these internships were orchestrated through Mike O'Keeffe at the International Internship Program. For more information on international opportunities, contact the Ohio Program direct.

Best of luck to both John & Ben and I'm sure we'll be posting more about their experiences when they return in Autumn.