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Christian Bello, Girard athlete

By Kevin Connelly

kconnelly@vindy.com

GIRARD

Last Thursday, with the score deadlocked at 7 late in the fourth quarter at Niles’ Bo Rein Stadium, Girard quarterback Christian Bello huddled his offense before they took the field for their final possession.

His message was simple: “This is where all the pain of two-a-days, all the suffering we went through in practice, and all the hard work we put in pays off.”

Bello, a mild-mannered kid on the surface with all the character traits a coach looks for in a leader, would never admit it, but his pain, suffering, and hard work over the summer was perhaps more taxing than that of the rest of his teammates.

And not just because his dad, Mark Bello, is the co-defensive coordinator for the Indians.

Rather it was his own doing.

Bello plays football, golf and soccer at Girard. And that’s just during the fall season. He also plays baseball and basketball for the Indians.

With sport specialization the newest trend among high school kids, Bello’s an increasingly rare five-sport varsity athlete.

Much like anything in life, however, it doesn’t come without sacrifices. But that’s a choice Bello made and, right now, he couldn’t be happier.

Can’t Pick? Play ‘em All

Growing up, Bello was a soccer player. He also played some baseball and basketball, but soccer was his sport. The only problem was Girard High School didn’t have a team.

With a football coach for a dad, you would think Bello’s first steps might have come on a football field. Instead, he didn’t start playing until the seventh grade.

A year later, he decided to pick up a golf club.

“That was the first time my dad took me out [golfing],” Bello recalled. “And I did pretty well so I figured I’d give it a shot.

“But that’s when my dad sat me down and told me that playing all three [sports] are going to be tough because they all fall in the same season.”

It was fine for a while, because soccer was out of the picture. Girard had a club team, but he wasn’t going to spend what precious free time he had in the fall playing a club sport.

Then last year, things changed. The school finally got a soccer team and with a need for bodies, some of Bello’s friends enlisted him to come out for the team. With that, the balancing act was under way — although not everyone was a fan of the idea.

“My coaches told me I had to pick one and, you know, I sat down with the coaches for all three sports and just told them that I was gonna try and play all three,” Bello said. “It’s just high school. I’m trying to have fun and do all I can, because once high school’s over not a lot of kids have an opportunity to move on and play another sport.”

Obviously there were going to be some conflicts, and Bello knew that.

He had to have his priorities in order and make sure everyone was aware of what they were.

The result:

1. Football

2a. Golf

2b. Soccer.

Paying his dues

Even though football was Bello’s favorite sport, it was going to be the most difficult for him to crack into.

And not because of his skill set.

Former Indians quarterback Nick Cardiero was a year ahead of Bello and that posed a problem. As Cardiero displayed last season, when he accounted for 2,900 total yards and 23 touchdowns, the three-year starter had a stranglehold on the position, leaving Bello on the outside looking in.

For the first five weeks of last season, Bello, a junior, could be found playing Saturday mornings, quarterbacking the Indians’ junior varsity team.

“I always thought about it,” said Bello of the situation. “With Nick playing ahead of me I was like, ‘Well, it looks like I’m only going to be playing one year, my senior year, at quarterback.’

“So when [my friends] asked me to play soccer, I said I’ll give it a shot since Nick was still ahead of me.”

Then came another curve ball. In Week 4, the defensive coordinator at the time, Pat Pearson — now the Indians head coach — suggested Bello try out at linebacker in practice. Two weeks later, he was starting at middle linebacker for the varsity team.

“It’s tough because my dad is a coach and he’s always told me to stick with it and just keep competing and my day [at quarterback] will come,” Bello said.

That day finally came last Thursday night in Niles. As Bello trotted out onto the field after giving his offense a few final words of encouragement, he glanced up at the scoreboard and saw just 1:14 left on the clock. Struggling in the passing game for most of the night, Bello connected with wideout Collin Cramer for 64 yards down to the Red Dragons’ 1-yard line.

It was all coming together for Bello in just his first start at the position he worked so hard to get.

Not enough hours

With a schedule like Bello’s, someone’s bound to get the short straw. For now, that’s golf — and girls, but as Christian said, “not really much time for that.”

The golf coach at Girard is John Norman. A retired high school principal, who joked that he’s going to be working for the rest of his life with a junior still in high school, Norman has a realistic understanding of the situation.

“He’s such a good kid and he has a lot of energy, and we told him we will get him in any match we can, but don’t burn yourself out,” Norman said. “He is a very good golfer, so it is tough when he’s not out there.”

Lately, that’s been the case more often than either party would like. Bello competed in the Indians’ first four matches of the season, plus an invitational, but ever since school started his schedule just hasn’t allowed for it.

“It has to get a little tough on the athlete,” Norman said. “Naturally there’s some days when we don’t have him, which changes up our rotation.

“If he was with us full time he’d be our No. 2 or 3 golfer, so we’re losing his experience and leadership. We get it, though.”

Bello’s mother Jodi, who played softball, basketball, volleyball, track and cross country at Lordstown, joked that she’s more busy now, with just one kid in the house, than she was when her two older daughters were home.

“I said, ‘You know what, I’m just going to embrace it and go with it because this is his last year,’ ” she said. “There was conflicts with football and him wanting to go and do [other things].

“I told him, ‘Listen, this is the choice that you have to make. You can always golf — you can golf until your 90,’ I said, ‘but if you want to play football and you love to play football now’s the time to play.’ ”

One thing that the Bellos have maintained through it all is that school comes first, and so far Christian has held up his end of the deal. After school, he goes to football, then to golf, then to soccer, and finally home — where he dives into whatever school work he has left.

“I try to find ways with my schedule throughout the school day to get my work done,” Bello said. “Teachers at our school are great and always say if I need help I can come in after school hours or before school starts, so I just find ways. I gotta stay eligible.”

Bello’s realistic about his options after high school. He’s given some thought about going to a small Division II school or even Division III to play football.

“We’ll see what happens,” he said. “Anybody who comes knocking on my door, sending me mail or anything, I’ll listen.

“If not, I’m fine with just intramurals and keeping up on my grades in college.”

With precious seconds ticking off the clock last Thursday, and the ball still sitting on the Niles 1-yard line, Bello had to make a decision.

“Sometimes it’s not the biggest guy in the fight, it’s the team that has the most heart,” he said.

The Indians walked out of Bo Rein Stadium with a 14-7 victory that night on a quarterback keeper with 4.5 seconds left by Bello — whose heart is as big as they come.

“It was tough,” he said about the journey, “but I stuck with it and I’m glad I did.”