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It’s safe to assume that when Donald Suxho first started playing volleyball as a kid he could never have imagined ending up in Venice, a small south Sarasota County city. This was in the late 1970s, in Albania, the small nation on the Baltic Peninsula.
Neither could Yury Shakirov who, though a few years younger, was also taking up volleyball but in Russia.
Yet, after a long career in the sport — Suxho competed in two Olympics Game and Shakirov played in professional leagues across Europe — here they are.
Suxho, 48, and Shakirov, 40, are the owners of the Global Sports Institute — a startup organization in the process of building a new 42,451-square-foot facility in Venice that will serve as the training grounds for both established and aspiring players.
“We both grew up in communism, in Russia and Albania, and our way of life was sports and fitness and community, so we have a big passion for that,” says Suxho, 48.
“We thought, ‘Hey, let's match our kind of energy, passion, resources and expertise, and let's build something cool.’ The sport of volleyball is growing rapidly, girls and boys, and we have a lot of experience in all this.”
The facility, currently being built out, is scheduled to open between June 14 and 17. It is inside Tervis Tumbler Co.’s former manufacturing building on Triple Diamond Boulevard, near Interstate 75 in Venice.
GSI leased the space after the insulated drinkware company sold the 147,269-square-foot building last year for $15.35 million to Bulgio Capital, an investment firm with offices in Pennsylvania and Israel.
Tervis has leased back 60,000 square feet for its operations, while Nick DeVito II, partner at the Sarasota commercial real estate firm Ian Black Real Estate representing the landlord, says 22,409 square feet remain available.
When GSI opens the multisport center it will have four indoor volleyball courts.
The volleyball courts will have Taraflex flooring imported from France and GSI will offer specialized volleyball camps, club pre-tryout clinics and a volleyball club led by Suxho and Shakirov.
There will also be 15 pickleball courts and a traditional fitness center with Technogym Italian Pro equipment as well as a yoga room, spin room and Pilates rooms.(GSI says it will have a corporate membership for the neighboring Tervis employees to use.)
DeVito declined to disclose lease terms and Suxho declined to discuss GSI’s financial details or the cost of the project, saying only "to give you an idea, it's 43,000 square feet, it's pretty expensive. We want to create a state-of-the-art facility for all ages. You can imagine, we are spending top dollar for equipment and flooring.”
The partners settled on the former Tervis facility after a two-month search that took them, as they looked for just the right spot, from Tampa to Naples.
The geography made sense because Shakirov was living in Naples and Suxho, based in California, was familiar with the area after spending time as director of the Girls Volleyball program at the famed IMG Academy in Bradenton.
The two had known one another for decades, competing in tournaments and competitions for years. In 2019, they almost played on the same team.
Suxho first moved to the U.S. — Massachusetts — in 1996 and eventually settled in Southern California where he attended and played volleyball for the University of Southern California.
He eventually qualified for the U.S. Olympic team, playing in the 2004 games in Athens and in the 2012 games in London.
Shakirov, meanwhile, was competing in professional leagues across Europe, including playing in the Russian Volleyball Super League at 16.
He moved to Florida about a year ago.
Suxho dreamed of opening a multisport facility. Once he reconnected with his old friend in Florida, they got to talking. One day Shakirov looked at Suxho and said it would be cool to work together, find some investors and do it.
Florida was the perfect place, Suxho says, for the same reason athletes have chosen it for decades. The year-round sun makes it ideal for training and development.
(While Suxho won’t cop to it, many an athlete chooses Florida because there is no state income tax.)
And there was a solid sports infrastructure that makes it an ideal spot — up to and including Spring Training, which started in the county in 1924.
According to Visit Sarasota County, amateur sports tourism will have an $80 million impact on the area in fiscal 2024. And if that weren’t enough proof to show what a mark sports makes on the local economy, IMG Academy, the globally known youth sports campus in west Bradenton, sold last year for $1.25 billion. It is one of the top employers in Manatee County, with a payroll of some 1,000 people.
GSI checks one more box for Suxho.
Like most athletes who make the jump into business, he’s quick with an unintended cliché about outworking the competition. But that doesn’t make the sentiment any less real
He believes the work ethic that got him to the Olympics will carry him through to this — and other — business ventures. He sees GSI growing and adding facilities across the country.
That's the same drive that pushed him on the volleyball court.
He shares an anecdote about playing at a grass tournament not that long ago. He was older than some of the competitors, his knees hurt. But those juices kicked in. He won.
Yet, at the risk of bursting bubbles, competitive juices aren’t what win a tournament. Or a match. Or a game. Or help you succeed in business. It’s practice, repetition, dedication, failure, perseverance that make the winner.
And, as tempted as Suxho is to speak the language of athletes, he knows that.
“My motto is not really to worry about the result and not really worry about the competition, but honestly keep it between me and me,” he says.
“People ask me, ‘Hey, are you gonna compare with this other facility? The other clubs?’ I'm like, No. I won't. Because we are our own unique place.”
And that approach, he knows, doesn’t change if you’re in Vlorë, Albania, or in Venice, Florida.
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