Before you think about striping and painting your field, you first have to get the grass and field into shape. Bright colors and straight lines will only help so much if your field is hard, brown and spotty.

• Aerate your field 4 to 5 times a year. This reduces compaction, allowing grass to breath. Therefore, you will have a safer, healthier, greener field.
• Walk your field before starting to work on it to identify any problem areas that will need special attention.
• Set up a strict fertilization and water schedule. The Rain Bird offers an easy way to consistently water your field.
• Use Crown III Crumb Rubber in your highest use areas to minimize turf wear.
• Keep a close eye out for weeds so that your healthy grass will not be crowded out.
• Sharpen your mowing blades weekly so that the grass is sliced through easily and not ripped.
• Sweep up grass immediately after cutting.

A green field to play on means nothing if the out-of-bounds lines aren’t crisp and straight, the hash marks aren’t accurate, or the mascot can’t be seen. Striping and painting your field will take time and patience but will be worth it in the end.

• Always string your lines. Accuracy is important because games are officiated according to the lines you stripe. Stringing your lines helps insure accurate markage. Use a Mark Out or Line Mate for accuracy and straight lines.
• Paint the sidelines on football fields first so that you know when to start and stop when lining the rest of the field.
• When striping lines the first time, the initial application should be lighter to establish good base. A second application with a high quality paint like Brite Stripe will make your lines brilliant.
• Apply a base coat of white paint before applying a color. This way you use less colored paint and get better, brighter coloring and your school name or logo will pop off the field.
• Use only the highest quality field marking paint like Brite Stripe and MAX to get the brightest lines and the easiest application.