On 9 December 2025, IGFH and Groundsfest Academy’s Bradley Tennant represented the sports turf industry as a guest speaker at Melksham Oak School’s Year 8 Experiences of the Workplace event. The full-day programme gave students a chance to explore career options they may never have considered, with grounds management sitting alongside construction, childcare and education, tax and finance, automotive, and media make-up.
The year group was split into five smaller groups, rotating through five employer-led sessions across the day. Each session ran for an hour and combined open discussion with hands-on activities, giving students time to ask questions and get involved.
Brad used his session to talk openly about his own career path and how he reached his current role. He explained the qualifications required in sports turf, as well as the different routes into the industry and the values of an apprenticeship: earning while you’re learning, with degree-level study funded by the government.
A key part of the discussion centred on working overseas. Brad spoke about his time working the Berlin Tennis Open, along with his work at the Soudal Open in Belgium earlier this year, and his experience working at Sydney University. He explained how international opportunities open up once you gain the right qualifications and experience, stressing that sports turf offers genuine career progression and the chance to travel.
Brad also highlighted the support available through initiatives such as the Groundsfest Academy (for which he is the Director of Education). He explained how free education and the opportunity to attend the Groundsfest show can help young people understand the sector before making decisions about their future.
The practical element of the session involved a seed identification exercise, where students were tasked with matching different grass seeds to their key identifying features. Brad then challenged them to link photos of plants to the correct seeds using the same visual clues.
To finish, Brad introduced an irrigation task, where students took apart a sprinkler and raced to reassemble it. Thanks to KAR for providing the sprinkler; the activity gave students a real taste of hands-on work and sparked lots of excitement.
Feedback from the day was extremely positive. Students stayed engaged and asked thoughtful questions, with a couple leaving the session genuinely considering sports turf as a future option. Even a member of staff mentioned that the talk prompted them to look into the industry as a potential career change.
From Brad’s perspective, inspiring even two students to see sports turf as a viable path mattered just as much as addressing the whole group. Our collective goal as IGFH is to create awareness and open minds whenever we get involved in educational sessions such as these.
We continue to support outreach opportunities like this, where real industry professionals can share honest experiences and show young people what careers in grounds management can offer.
If you’re interested in spreading awareness of your own role within the industry at Melksham Oak School, you can contact Ceri Tranter, Head of Careers Education, at tranterc@melkshamoak.wilts.sch.uk.