Looking to prepare the best possible playing surface for your players this season? The Grounds Management Association (GMA) have designed a new training resource on their website which will support volunteers who maintain sports pitches.

Written content, short videos and easy-to-digest seasonal guides can all be found within the GMA’s recently-launched, online ‘Grounds Management Toolkit’, which is helping ground staff and the general public to understand how to prepare pitches for players across the community. The toolkit is fully backed by Sport England.

By relaunching the website, the GMA aim to continue increasing the skills and capabilities of practicing, and future, grounds volunteers, engage them further with common practices involved in grounds maintenance. The toolkit follows the launch of GMA Level 1 and Level 2 online courses, with modules covering the basic grounds maintenance tasks required at grassroots level.

Jason Booth of the Grounds Management Association said: “We know that volunteers can sometimes only offer a few hours of their time each week, or that some local clubs struggle to find regular grounds volunteers. Without pitches, there is no sport.”

The ‘Grounds Management Toolkit’, funded by Sport England and Other Media, can be accessed for free via this link. To upskill your knowledge through GMA training courses, or for more information on bespoke training sessions, visit The GMA's website or E-Mail learning@thegma.org.uk.