San Pedro High School is a public high school in the San Pedro portion of the city of Los Angeles, California. The mission of this educational establishment is to provide students with academic and social skills to succeed in college, career, and their community. A key method to achieving this goal is by providing athletic chances that cultivate these skills through sports.
THE CHALLENGE
With only one person painting the fields and difficulties in finding volunteers willing to help, the manual marking process proved to be inefficient, and the results, not on par with the school’s Pirate Pride.
THE SOLUTION
In June 2022, the school took the initiative and decided to invest in a Turf Tank line marking robot, a system which proved to not only improve the efficiency of the painting process, but also increase the professionalism of their sports fields.
Efficient tools for an efficient athletic director
Anthony Rogosic is the Athletic Director at San Pedro High School, who apart from the overall responsibility of the athletic department was also charged with painting the fields. Anthony explains how difficult this task used to be in the past when done manually:
“I appreciate that I have this opportunity, but laying in the field, at least once or twice every single week, from summer all the way till probably March, it kind of takes a toll on you.”
“We got our Turf Tank just over a year ago. We did a demo, they came out, we saw it and we just had to have it.”
Painting a football field
| Past | Turf Tank |
| 10 hours people | Less than 3 hours |
| Difficult to find volunteers | Autonomous line marking |
| More time for other duties |
I can get the job done in less than three hours for football, and in less than an hour for soccer. Compared to eight o’clock to six o’clock during the football season.
Anthony Rogosic, Athletic Director
This improved efficiency has extensive implications. Owing to its independent design, the robot is able to paint the entire field autonomously, with no need for human assistance – freeing up Anthony’s time for other duties and allowing him to optimize their athletic department in other areas.
“It takes prep work, but once it’s rolling, I can do other athletic director duties.”
I think that’s probably the best quality of this purchase: I have time to do other things as well.
Anthony Rogosic, Athletic Director
Anthony is delighted to see what a great team he and the robot make. Especially when the weather gets bad, he knows he can rely on his trustworthy four-wheeled assistant to prepare the field for the game.
“We’re in Southern California and it rarely rains. But when it does, we still have the opportunity to line the field. We’re still gonna play when it rains. Instead of me going, laying in the field with the strings going across in the mud, it was pretty easy, pretty straightforward to set this thing up.”
Empowering kids to feel like pros
Apart from the efficiency, the Turf Tank’s system has also increased the precision and quality of lines, which Anthony admits never looked so good in the past.
The quality of the lines… it’s almost a night and day difference. They’re a lot brighter, they’re a lot straighter. We had the stencils, the strings but it wasn’t as accurate.
Anthony Rogosic, Athletic Director
“We just hired a new varsity football coach. And he was all for this, he wanted to make this field look as professional as possible. And I think that’s what it comes down to. It looks like a professional, field, it’s organized. The kids have an opportunity to play on a field that’s fully lined with hash marks, numbers.”
Anthony believes those accurate lines matter. They create a more professional look and give kids a chance to feel like pros. And with fields now featuring even more decorative elements, they certainly get that NFL look!
We even put San Pedro Pirates in the endzone in black and gold and we put an SP midfield. We never had that opportunity over here. It brings up professionalism.
Anthony Rogosic, Athletic Director
“Our football coach was excited to put San Pedro pirates in the endzone in black and gold as well as an SP in the midfield. It was a great community event in San Pedro. Thanks to the Turf Tank and thanks to the customer service who helped put that together with the artwork in the endzone. We never had that opportunity over here before.”
Professionalism
- 100% perfect lines
- Robot-created endzone letters & midfield logos
- The ultimate sports experience to make kids feel like pros
And Anthony believes all of this possible due to the help he got from the Turf Tank customer support team.
“It looks a little intimidating. We worked with Mason and Blake in the summer to get this Turf Tank going. The first few weeks, you know, wasn’t as smooth as we all wanted it to be. But what I appreciated most was whenever we had a game that week, they would be out here to help line the field at least the first few weeks. What I appreciated was until our school was completely confident using by themselves, they came out here every single week.”
They’re a phone call away, they’re a text away, they’re pros at it as well.
Anthony Rogosic, Athletic Director
To draw the line
Anthony ends his story with a piece of advice for those who are on the edge regarding this new technology:
“So as the LAUSD educator and athletic director, I believe this is a truly great investment. Not just for new athletic directors, but, for veteran coaches and athletic directors. It saves a lot of time. It’s effective. It’s professional. Nothing but good things about it.”