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Fast forward to August 2016, and Huffman connected through a colleague to the Warren County Convention and Visitors Bureau (WCCVB). He quickly felt that working with children and sports with his team was a perfect fit for his professional self.
“It was intriguing to me and excited to promote youth sports,” Huffman said. “Youth sports can also bring in a lot of money for the community.”
Today, Huffman is WCCVB’s Director of Sports Marketing and has undergone an incredible transformation over the years since starting his career at “Ohio’s Biggest Playground.”
“When I first started, we did about eight events a year and made about $1 million,” Huffman says. “I had one of him on my team. Now we have about 50 events a year and seven of him on the team.”
During his tenure, WCCVB initiated and completed the process of opening a new facility in Lebanon called Warren County Sports Park. Huffman has been involved with the project since its inception, assisting with financing and assisting in the construction and grand opening of the new facility in February 2020.
“We opened our facility during a very difficult time,” said Huffman. “We all went into hiding and got through it and by the fall of 2020 we were operating full time.”
The sports park’s primary goal is to generate out-of-town visitor spending. Huffman and his team are helping promote that by pitching the only facility of its kind in Southern Ohio as the venue for his championship events.
There are 14 multi-purpose fields, primarily for baseball, but there are also some fields for soccer and lacrosse. This facility needs regular maintenance to remain a destination park. A big game changer for the facility was the introduction of robots to draw lines on the field. This eliminates the need for manual painting and improves accuracy.
“This year, one million guests will visit the park,” says Huffman. “I got to know William Knox, who runs the Grand Park Sports Campus in Westfield, Indiana. proposed the use of robots for
The Turf Tank Robot was created to ease the burden on athletic park managers, eliminating the need to measure, pull strings and push marking machines. Huffman saw the action in his grand park and was intrigued.
“The robot draws for us,” says Huffman. “It can be scheduled to run according to the weather, and it is very accurate.”
Also, line art during the season is done at least once or twice a week, saving time and freeing up staff to focus on other things.
“The only time you have to be careful is when you run out of paint,” Huffman said.
Simon Christensen, director of marketing for Turf Tank, said he was happy to see how well his robots not only helped clients in the field, but also the children playing in the field.
“Turf Tank allows Ben Huffman and Turf Managers to focus their attention on making sure the field is in top condition for the kids,” said Christensen.
Huffman says the robots may be doing the field painting, but he says the team members work the hardest.
“I’ve been blessed with staff and this has been such a fun project,” Huffman said. “This park will bring great benefits to the local community.”
Please log on to turftank.com for more information.
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