Bells chime in about new roles at SPIRE

Jul. 20—{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}GENEVA — The safe choice for Shaun Bell was to remain with Painesville City Schools as director of facilities and operations.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}But the opportunity to return to his hometown to work for one of the world's largest indoor, multi-sport training and competition facilities was irresistible.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}Last December, Bell switched jobs, leaving Painesville schools after nearly five years of service, to become director of operations and facilities for SPIRE Institute.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}Among the sports SPIRE showcases are swimming, track and field and basketball. The popularity of lacrosse and soccer has increased.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}"What really attracted me was the vision of SPIRE," Bell said. "The things that they have planned — their 10-year plan, their 20-year plan. It's almost going to be like a Disney World for people that love sports.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}"And the Academy is going to grow," he said. "What's going to be there, it's just a fraction right now of what you see. Just being a part of that, for me, just sounded exciting and very different."{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}Bell admitted that it was a risk leaving Painesville Schools.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}"Obviously, I could have stayed at Painesville and retired there," he said. "I just thought the reward of what SPIRE could become and being a part of that, kind of putting my stamp on things, it just sounded exciting."{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}When he saw an ad for the SPIRE job, Bell said his reaction was "that sounds really cool, it's what I do."{/span}{p class="p2"}{span class="s1"}Bell's transition to the {/span}{span class="s1"}state-of-the-art sports and training facility has become a family affair.{/span}{p class="p2"}{span class="s1"}About a month ago, his wife, Lindsay, also a Geneva High School graduate, joined the SPIRE team as {/span}{span class="s1"}a customer engagement specialist.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}Her role includes recruiting athletes for the various camps as well as the Academy. She's also involved in the plans to create a gift shop (where to put it, what to sell) that she will manage.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}Shaun Bell's responsibilities range from supervision of maintenance, repairs and cleaning to helping plan the events (including the Big Ten indoor track and field meet) that can attract as many as 10,000 in one busy day.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}He said his role covers what's planned to what transpires "the actual day of the event. {/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}"A lot of moving pieces," he said. "Whatever is happening at SPIRE on a particular day, I'm somehow involved with or managing."{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}He works with several managers whose crews total "about 40 to 50 people ... it takes a lot of people to keep SPIRE running."{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}He said SPIRE executives are open to his suggestions based on his observations.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}"Some of that is that they lean on me a little bit because I have experience, but also they are always looking for ideas and ways to do things better," Bell said.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}"I think that's one of the reasons why Lindsay is here," he said. "She had some ideas and they immediately grasped on to that and hired her."{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}It's not the first time the Bells have worked together. In 1997, they were employed at Giant Eagle. {/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}"That's how we met in high school, our senior year we worked at the local Giant Eagle," said Lindsay, who described herself as a stay-at-home mom for the past 22 years.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}"He was my bagger. {/span}We do work well together, I think we balance each other out," she said. "[Our work reunion] is 25 years [in the making]."{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}Bell said his job at Painesville schools prepared him for his new challenges.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"} "I managed the facilities, transportation, food services — all the non-educational stuff," he said of his previous job. "It was similar to what I'm doing at SPIRE.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}"But what is crazy about SPIRE is that for Painesville City Schools, I had about 500,000 square feet of building space," he said. "At SPIRE, I have about 740,000 so it's bigger than a school district, believe it or not."{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}He said his career has been managing facilities for almost 20 years. Most of that time was with non-profit agencies ["churches for about a decade"].{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}"This is a little bit of a change," he said. "Most people probably don't know that we're a for-profit business. But for the most part, it's pretty similar."{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}What he's enjoying is the spirit and enthusiasm when SPIRE is hopping.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}"It's interesting — [SPIRE] has a vibe to it," he said. "When it's empty, it's very different than when it's full of people. SPIRE really does have a life when it has kids running around and it's loud and it's noisy."{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}Bell said it reminds him of how teens gathered when he was growing up.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}"I see the way that teenagers interact, like [at] the arcades when we were kids," he said. "Or even the malls. It's like that at SPIRE — I don't know that there is much else like that around any longer. Malls aren't certainly like they used to be.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}"SPIRE is like that when it's full of activities — kids interacting, talking to each other and hanging out. It's really a cool place to be."{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}So cool that SPIRE has become a family affair.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}"Our daughters like hanging out there," he said, referring to Leigha (age 13), Sophia (15) and Emma (22).{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}"They like to volunteer," Lindsay said. "They'll come up and work with us once in a while. Or they will go swimming or they'll practice volleyball or basketball. Sometimes they work in the gym.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}"It's nice that they feel comfortable and everyone is really welcoming ... friendly — it's almost like a big family. I know that someone is always watching them."{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}The girls' interest, she said, is "one of the reasons I was volunteering up here a lot. Shaun was working a lot and we just like to be with him, hanging out. So I was volunteering and that's kind of how the job came about."{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}Bell said family matters to the SPIRE executives.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}"That's one of the things [SPIRE supervisors] said when both of us started [working there] that family is always first," he said. "Whatever your family needs, that always comes first before work. So that's really nice."{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}The institute also has programs and camps for E Sports and drones.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}"There are actual career paths to be drone pilots," Bell said.{/span}{p class="p3"}Neither Bell considers themselves an athlete. Shaun played baseball and wrestled until a back injury when he was a high school freshman sidelined him.{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}"I did not play many sports after that," he said. "I golf now but back then I did not [play] as much."{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}His wife tried karate and kickboxing.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}"But I'm not very athletic," she said.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}Her husband chimed in with a laugh that neither of them are.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}"Our sports knowledge did not get us into SPIRE," she said. {/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}In his eight months with SPIRE, Bell said he's noticed there is not much of an offseason.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}"For events, the schedule is lighter when it's warmer," he said. "But as soon as it started to get warmer, we have camps. There really isn't an offseason." {/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}Last week, there were approximately 100 campers at SPIRE.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}"The place is so big that it seems like it's not that busy," he said.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}It's not the same when snow is a threat.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}"We had one weekend where we had a volleyball tournament and a national swim meet for a college championship and we had a Big Ten championship, and we had [more than] 10,000 people a day because of those three events," he said.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}Other big events include the state indoor track and field meet and the NCAA Division III outdoor track and field meet.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}That's when it gets interesting for commuters.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}A busy weekend may mean "3,000 cars and we only have 2,700 parking spaces, so you can imagine how packed it gets."{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}Bell said there is room for about 3,500 spectators for track and field and 1,500 for a swim meet.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}One thing Bell likes about this job is that, for the most part, no day is the same.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}"Some things don't change — say snow removal and unlocking the facilities," he said of a typical work day. "And the day crews cleaning. {/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}"But every day, we're always talking about the next event. There is a lot of variety. There are things that technically we're doing every day are the same but for the most part, every day is very, very different."{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}This week, SPIRE is hosting a national swim meet "called Futures. {/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}"It's a high-visibility meet — USA Swimming runs it," Bell said. "We've been talking about that meet for months. {/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}"There is always something every day to get ready for a big event," he said. "I can't do the same thing every day, I like variety and SPIRE is 100 percent variety."{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}Perhaps the most important job is keeping the swimming pools ready for competitors and training.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}"High maintenance," Bell said of the two pools. "My goal is for no one to ever know that I have a job there. As soon as they notice that something is wrong, that's when something has failed.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}"The swimming pool is a good example of that," he said. "Keeping the levels and the pumps running 100 percent of the time is a daily task, checking on it and making sure we're not seeing any issues or indications of an issue. {/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}"Our pump room looks like the bowels of the Titanic," he said. "One of [the pool requires] about 4,500 gallons per minute through those [two pumps]."{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}Combined, he said they are probably are "about as big as a Volkswagen."{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}The smaller recreational pool pumps about 450 gallons per minute.{/span}{p class="p1"}{span class="s1"}"That Aquatics Building costs about [$1.5 million] a year just to keep open and the pools running," he said, explaining that it's big machinery, big filters and a lot of chemicals.{/span}