Announcements

VSFMA Member of the Month - APRIL 2023

The Virginia Sports Field Management Association continues the VSFMA Member of the Month featuring its own Board Member, Tyler Bergin for this month of April 2023.

From the time Tyler was a little kid, he has always loved the game of baseball. Growing up playing the position of pitcher, a durable mound was critical to his success. When Tyler was in eighth grade, the particular mound he was pitching on was unstable, so he took it upon himself to rebuild it learning how as he went along. Going forward and throughout his high school baseball career, Tyler continued repairing mounds for himself and as well as other pitchers. Little did he know at the time that his skill and desire to improve field playability and safety would lead him to an eventual career in sports field management.

Upon graduating from high school, Tyler served in the United States Military as an Army Fire Support Specialist where he was assigned to inventory units as the point person calling for artillery air strike support when needed. As Tyler put it, “it was a pretty cool role”. While his military duties kept him stateside, his passion for baseball continued and he was able to catch a few major league baseball games while he was in stationed in various parts of the country.

When his contract with the Army concluded, Tyler came back home to Virginia where his high school sweetheart had been waiting for him and joined forces with his future father-in-law to help coach and maintain the baseball field for Liberty Christian Academy. It was through this experience that Tyler met Brian Hinkley, CSFM who ended up hiring Tyer to work at Liberty University as a turf technician. Tyler enjoyed working for five years under the mentorship of Brian, picking his brain throughout the time. In turn, Brian got Tyler involved with the Sports Field Management Association and had him attend his first SFMA Conference at Fort Worth, Texas.

Tyler had hoped and planned for Liberty’s baseball field to convert to natural grass, which did not end up happening so when an opportunity popped up for him to work on a high-end natural turf baseball field, he took it. Two years ago, Tyler accepted the position of Sports Field Manager of the Lynchburg Hillcats where he continues to pursue his passion of baseball.

Tyler married his high school sweetheart in 2017 and together they have a three-year old daughter, Sage and a brand-new baby daughter, Valerie Skye (set to make her grand debut today or tomorrow – stay tuned!). During his free time, Tyler loves to fish and golf.

Tyler got involved with the VSFMA through his working relationship with Brian Hinkley, CSFM who introduced him to the association and encouraged him to become a member.

As a VSFMA Board Member, Tyler’s biggest goal is to continue to grow the network of our peers. He loves that he can reach out to 15 different people to get answers when needed.

The one piece of advice Tyler would give is not to quit - every failure is a learning opportunity.

If Tyler could do it all over again, he would have liked to attend college to study turf management.

If you want to know more about Tyler, you are welcome to connect with him via cell (434) 439-0726 and/or Twitter @Tyler__Bergin.