30A Lacrosse Club is non-profit organization that was founded in 2016, based out of Santa Rosa Beach, which covers the area from Destin to Panama City, and up to Freeport, Florida. They provide lacrosse programs for kids while also promoting sportsmanship, respect for the other players and the game, and physical fitness.
THE CHALLENGE
30A Lacrosse and their lacrosse league were struggling with a lack of consistency across the clubs in the Panhandle, each club following different regulations and field sizes. On top of that, preparing the fields for the games proved to be a challenging task when painting manually.
THE SOLUTION
So, in December 2021, the decided to get a Turf Tank line marking robot, which enabled 30A Lacrosse Club to standardize their field sizes across the Panhandle, while also saving them time and effort.
Creating consistency
Jameson Hansen is the president and founder of 30A Lacrosse Club who explains that 30A Lacrosse’s number one goal when they got the robot was to ensure consistency across their entire league.
We got our Turf Tank robot in December of 2021. Her name is BETTIE and it stands for “Best Ever Turf Tank In Existence.”
Jameson Hansen, President and Founder
Looking at the lack of consistency between the clubs in old league they decided something needed to be changed. Different clubs had different rules and field sizes, which created a lack of consistency and made it difficult for players from one club to compete against those from another.
So they set an ambitious goal: to unify the regulations that all local clubs follow in order to create a more cohesive league.
“Part of the problem with the old league that we had was there was no consistency in the fields. Not everyone was painting the same size fields we’d show up to an event and someone would have like maybe an 80 or 90 yard field that’s supposed to be a full 110.”
So together with the other clubs in the Panhandle they created a new league where all teams can follow the same regulations and have similar field sizes when playing against each other.
When we started the new league, we made the move for consistency.
Jameson Hansen, President and Founder
Jameson explains that one important step in achieving this goal and offering a more professional experience for the kids was getting a Turf Tank line marking robot to paint their fields.
“When we started the new league, we made the move for consistency. So that the fields were always the same, that we’re always painting the same size fields, and everything looks real good when the kids show up to play. Because that’s part of the event and that’s part of the fun of showing up. If the field looks good, and the players feel like, you know you put a lot of effort into it, changes the game a little bit.”
By creating a layout in the tablet and copying it for each new location, Jameson ensures that all fields are the exact same size. And as a bonus, the lines are always perfectly straight.
75% less time spent on painting fields
Jameson explains that one of the most important advantages of having the robot is the time savings. Like many others who work in the turf management industry, Jameson struggled with the manual marking process – which proved to be difficult and time-consuming.
“I could not see myself going out to all the events that we run in the spring and painting fields. Just myself to do a lacrosse field, it takes me, just me, two and a half to three and a half hours to do a full field with a lining kit.”
Once I saw it demoed, it made so much sense to me, and what a huge time savings it was going to be because when it came down to it, the time savings was really everything.
Jameson Hansen, President and Founder
But ever since he got the robot, that process changed significantly. A job that used to take about three hours is now reduced to only 45 minutes, just the robot working. Since the robot works autonomously, it which gives Jameson more time to start preparing for the next field and carry on with other jobs to prepare the area for the game.
Painting a lacrosse field
| Past | Turf Tank |
| 3 hours | 45 minutes |
“And the tasks that I do while it’s just painting. A lot of times I’ll begin the setup for the next field.”
As an example, Jameson recently had to prepare for a Sunday game for the NGLA, the Northern Gulf Lacrosse Alliance, at Navarro Soccer Park. He had to paint six fields, three full-sided and 3 short-sided. Comparing the time he would have needed to paint these manually in the past and the actual amount of time he needed with the robot, the numbers are clear and the robot is way on top.
Preparation for a Sunday game:
- 6 fields: 3 full-sided + 3 short-sided
| Past | Turf Tank |
| 12-16 hours | 2 minutes setup & 4 hours just the robot painting (Time saved for other tasks) |
So I’m out here painting six fields today, which will take me about four hours. And I’ll finish three full-sided and three short-sided fields. If I had done this normally, just me, it’s a 12-16-hour job.
Jameson Hansen, President and Founder
More time for other projects
Jameson is not only content with painting fields for 30A Lacrosse, but he’s ecstatic that he can take on other side projects too.
As more and more people learned about Jameson’s fantastic field lines, they started asking questions like his process behind it all and what kind of machine he was using. This not only spread the word about Jameson and his BETTIE robot even further, but intrigued people wanted him to paint their fields as well.
When I painted manually, there was no way I would take on extra projects, not a chance.
Jameson Hansen, President and Founder
Since he is now more efficient painting fields and paints the fields much faster with the robot he can help other organizations in the area and paint their fields.
“I do football fields for youth and for high school in the last year. I’ve done soccer fields, and then a whole bunch of lacrosse fields.”
