Meet The Man

Familiar to many as a member of the crack cleaning staff that establishes Fitness Incentive as the World’s Cleanest Gym, Luis Alberto Rojas—more familiarly known as Albert—is also of critical importance when it comes to supplying a second, related function: maintaining the gym and spa. In fact, so smart, skilled, and versatile is Albert that he enjoys the esteem and regard of a kind of superhero (Maintenance Man?) here at F.I. There seems to be no job he cannot do; no repair he cannot make, no problem he cannot solve. When a maintenance issue arises, and before professionals, service techs, and contractors are called, our first thought is “Can Albert do this?” The answer is almost invariably, “Yes,” and in the rare instance when it’s “No,” it’s usually because the task requires some extremely specialized tool that only pros have.

Albert joined the F.I. staff several years ago ostensibly as part of the cleaning staff, but he soon began performing maintenance-related tasks as an outgrowth of his natural curiosity and status as a lightning-quick learner. He’d soon be covering all the bases: carpentry; minor electrical and plumbing; ceilings, flooring, and carpet; machine and equipment troubleshooting and repair…the list goes on. Albert acknowledges that he is no expert at any of these professions (he’s being a little modest here), but can certainly hold his own.

Here is a partial list of some of Albert’s “greatest hits.”

• Installed the tiled flooring upstairs in the Spa
• Demolished and modified the wood walls in the Queenax room and installed the diamond plate wall covering
• Installed the barres, TRX anchors, and the ceiling in the Yoga Studio
• Rewired the gym’s sound system
• Installed the chin bars under the carport (I can personally attest to the fact that this task was positively herculean. Man vs. cinderblock. The cinderblock lost.)

As for any gaps in his expertise, he possesses, as he says, enough knowledge and skill to keep things up and running until the professional techs can be summoned.

One Head, Many Hats

Two professions Albert is an expert at are music (he has been playing the drums for over 30 years, including professionally both live and in-studio) and sound and video engineering. Several years ago he began taking engineering courses and acquiring equipment. Today, Rojas Productions is a thriving company providing sound, video, and lighting engineering at concerts, festivals, parties, corporate events, weddings, graduations, and church events. He has seen his business grow each year, the fulfillment of a longtime professional ambition.

The success of Rojas Productions leads Albert to comment on Cor and Ken. He is very fond of and extremely grateful to them both, crediting them with the support that was and is essential to his ongoing education and contributing to the success of his business. He credits his growth as a professional and his success at least in part to their generosity (one form of which has been work schedule flexibility, without which he’d have been unable to attend night school). He views his expanded duties at Fitness Incentive not as a burden of additional work but as opportunities to learn, grow, and acquire skill sets that he might otherwise not have been able to do. Their trust and faith in him act as confirmation of (and, in a way, compensation for) all his hard work.

Friendly, popular, helpful…

Albert is, in addition to everything else, a kind of informal ambassador between management and members. His easy smile and the warmth of his personality are palpable to all. We’re lucky to have him: his compact, sturdy frame, his nimble mind, and his skilled, dexterous hands.

So step aside ye caped crusaders of strip and screen. We at F.I. have in our midst a genuine “superman.”

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About the Author

Paul Smith

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