AYSO Reduced Costs by 60% & Increased Field Quality
About AYSO Soccer Club
The Regional Commissioner for AYSO Region 214, Bryan Samuels, speaks in this video success story about their experience with the TinyLineMarker Sport. AYSO is an all-volunteer youth soccer association located in Southern California with:
- 200 Teams
- 1800+ Children Enrolled
- 8 Locations & 28 Different Fields
- 6+ Field Sizes & Layouts
They use all kinds of soccer fields ranging from small U4/U5 soccer fields up to full-size upper division fields for 17-18-year-old players as well.
AYSO has been very happy with their decision to purchase the TinyLineMarker Sport field line painter, which they never thought would be so easy to use.
Their most significant benefit has been cost savings; they have reduced their material costs by over 60% while increasing the quality of their fields.
Easy to Use
Bryan Samuels was turned onto the idea of an automatic field painter by one of his peers. After looking into different options, Bryan and his team decided that the TinyLineMarker Sport was the best solution for them because, as he says, anybody could operate it. This made it a perfect fit for their organization, which is an all-volunteer organization. According to Bryan, they also looked at other available solutions, but these had a much more complicated setup and hardware configuration. So from an all-volunteer perspective, they decided to “Keep it simple,” in Bryan’s own words.
Easy to Transport & Setup
Previously, the AYSO soccer club had a volunteer painting the fields, but when this was no longer an option, Bryan got involved and had to take over the soccer field painting. He quickly noticed how easy it was to learn to use the TinyLineMarker Sport field line marker takes. He also remarked that it takes very little time to set up and prepare for painting fields in his day-to-day work with the robot.
Transportation is very easy for the soccer club and allows them to easily transport the robot to all their locations, all using a regular-sized Prius to transport the robot.
“I could pick the machine up, put it in the back of my Prius, and drive it around to the various fields, pull it out, set up the fields on the tablet, hit Go, and away it went,” says Bryan.
“I Never Thought It Would Be This Easy”
Teaching others how to use the field painter has also been “really straightforward.” in Bryan’s opinion if people can use a smartphone. They can easily operate the TinyLineMarker Sport line marker. “I never thought it would be this easy,” Bryan added.
Managing Soccer Fields and Templates
According to Bryan, managing the fields and templates on the tablet has been amazingly simple. He says a lot of the time and money required for field painting has to do with the initial lining of the fields, and all of that goes away with the TinyLineMarker Sport.
“The templates are drag and drop; you put them on a Google satellite image, you can modify them, shrink them, grow them, spin them, move them in slight directions here or there to avoid mud puddles. It’s been amazing, and it’s been a huge time and money saver. And for an organization like ours which is all volunteer non-profit, we like to take advantage of any time or financial savings.”
According to Bryan, one of the most significant benefits of the robot has been the flexibility to move the fields around to avoid some of the field damage that comes from daily use. “Having the ability to move them is an amazing advantage that we didn’t realize that we would be able to harness so quickly. It’s been awesome.”
Paint Cost Reduced by 60%
When asked what goals they had when purchasing the robot, Bryan immediately stated that their goal was to reduce costs. Their field cost and field maintenance took up about 33% of their annual budget, which was too much. With the robot, they are now able to save money, save time, reduce labor costs, and reduce material costs. Now we can save a significant amount of time and paint. Bryan estimates that they will be able to pay back the investment in the robot within one year.
“Everything about the robot has exceeded our expectations. It’s been awesome.”
With the TinyLineMarker robot, Bryan feels that now AYSO Region 214 soccer club can focus more on what they initially set out to do: provide a better soccer experience to the 1800 kids that enroll there.
“So rather than being field maintenance experts or painting experts, we can focus our energies on teaching kids the game of soccer.”
High Quality and Consistency
Bryan noted that being located in Southern California does have its challenges. “We have drought conditions, drainage issues, and we also use public facilities, so the robot’s ability to traverse various terrain and still maintain high-quality straight lines really surprised us.”
Also, the ability of the robot to implement the same fields week after week with high accuracy has been a great experience for all of the AYSO parent volunteers. As Bryan says, friends and visitors of the soccer club who visit their fields tell them how amazing the fields look week after week compared to previous seasons.
Cleaning The Soccer Field Painter
According to Bryan, cleaning the soccer field painter is another critical step in the process. And it is straightforward with the user guide and videos on the tablet.
“The tablet walks you through a step-by-step process of how to clean the robot, empty the paint, clean the nozzle, and clean the pump. It’s very easy.”
Positive Experience
Having used the robot for almost six months already, Bryan has been very pleased with the fact that they have not had a single problem with the robot’s performance, throughput, or cleaning process.
Bryan has also been pleased about collaborating with TinyMobileRobots. Bryan says the initial set-up process of getting started and the whole experience of dealing with TinyMobileRobots has been very positive.
The Biggest Benefit
According to Bryan, the biggest benefit has been the cost savings, especially the reduced material cost from reduced paint consumption.
Bryan and his team would definitely recommend the TinyLineMarker Sport to other sports organizations and associations, and they are already considering other ways to put the field painter to use.
“There are other advantages to the machine that we’re starting to think about, like helping other regions in our area pre-stripe a field.”
