WCTA Newest SFMA International Affiliate
Release…May 6, 2024
By WCTA Staff
After years of looking at one another over the fence, the Western Canada Turfgrass (WCTA) Association and the US based, Sports Field Management Association (SFMA), have officially joined forces with the WCTA being recognized as SFMA’s most recent ‘International Affiliate Organization’.
The mutually beneficial relationship began in early 2011 when then WCTA President, Dave Duncan, attended the SFMA (formerly STMA) annual conference in Austin, Texas. In a follow-up letter, Mr. Duncan reported the following:
“I met with their Board on Thursday afternoon for about an hour and discussed how we may both benefit from unifying – and opening our members up to their (the STMA) exposure. The feeling of sharing knowledge and exposure was mutual. The striking amount of high quality speakers was wonderful. Many different educational faculties were represented as well as different managers from Field Operations throughout the United States. In the future, I suggest that we always send a contingent of support to their Conference if possible, and continue to build these relationships that we deem vital to our progression as an Industry.”
This newly formalized collaboration allows a relationship operating in the spirit of an SFMA chapter but without the associated legal complexities. Benefits to the WCTA and its membership include:
• no fees for this recognition;
• information and resource sharing by SFMA;
• affiliate organization listed on SFMA website;
• SFMA provides one membership to the President of each international affiliate organization;
• SFMA offers conference registration and education and training resources at SFMA member rates, including pursuit of the Certified Sports Field Manager program and registration to our annual and regional conferences.
Further details will soon be provided to WCTA members wishing to take advantage of SFMA affiliation programs and benefits.
About the SFMA International Affiliate Organization program
In the summer of 2009, the SFMA Board of Directors established an International Affiliate Organization status to recognize international groups of sports field managers. This category was developed to formalize collaboration between SFMA and international organizations and will allow this relationship to operate in the spirit of an SFMA chapter, but without the legal complexities of affiliating with SFMA. Thus, SFMA has created International Affiliate Organizations for groups that reside in countries outside of the U.S. and its territories. Each IAOP member-organization is provided a complimentary SFMA membership and granted member pricing for their entire memberships on all SFMA offerings including conference registration and certification.
