Andrew Price, owner of Trumbull Fitness, standing beside Sami Rende, 16. Rende has been Price’s student for two years, undertaking physical training to box and do deadlifts.
Courtesy of Andrew Price
Andrew Price, owner of Trumbull Fitness, standing beside Sami Rende, 16. Rende has been Price’s student for two years, undertaking physical training to box and do deadlifts.
Courtesy of Lisa Rende
Sami Rende wearing several medals at the Connecticut Special Olympics in 2024.
Courtesy of Bob Olsen
TRUMBULL — Two years ago, Sami Rende wouldn’t have even considered pursuing power lifting as a sport, but that was before she and her mom met Andrew Price.
Price is the owner of Trumbull Fitness at 35 Nutmeg Drive, Suite 105. Getting his start as a personal trainer, he purchased the gym last year after it was going out of business and renovated it, transforming it into a modern gym space. Though the gym caters to all ages, Price said kids and teenagers are among his largest clientele.
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Sami, who is now 16, has Down syndrome and her mother, Lisa Rende, had been trying to encourage Sami to exercise more to deal with her hypotonia, which is a condition common among those with Down syndrome. Hypotonia leads to low muscle tone and motor difficulties that can cause people to become slightly overweight.
Hearing of Price’s work as a physical trainer on a local Facebook group, Lisa signed Sami, then 14, up for sessions with him twice a week. Ever since then, Rende said, she’s seen a transformation in her daughter.
“Every day I have her active, I have her doing something,” said Lisa Rende. “I think she wouldn’t be doing some of those things if she didn’t have the confidence in her ability. And I think that working out with Andrew has provided her with that confidence and in herself, and that she could do these things which is always a challenge with kids like Sami, providing her with different opportunities that she could just excel in and just bring that confidence and be like every other kid.”
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Price began training at numerous clubs and working with youth in Palo Alto, Calif., before moving with his wife to Trumbull in 2021. He worked as a personal trainer during that time, doing sessions in his garage and backyard, but he said that after he began boxing with kids, the scope of his work began to increase exponentially.
“I’m still kind of like speechless, but everything is a blessing,” Price said. “I myself have three kids that are 6, 4 and 2. So I think that’s been the biggest thing, when I work with clients and parents, I think they can see and sense the care I have for these children, because I treat everybody like they’re my kids. No matter what, no matter what they’re going through … I treat everybody equally here.”
Lisa Rende said that Sami’s confidence has drastically improved since taking part in Price’s sessions, taking a particular interest in power lifting, and branching out into other sports like swimming, cheerleading, and dancing. According to Rende, Sami is the only girl on the Trumbull Special Olympics Power Lifting team. She began competing at 16 years old, winning several medals at the Unified Sports Holiday Classic powerlifting competition hosted by the Special Olympics in Ansonia in 2024.
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Sami isn’t the only person with Down syndrome who Price works with, and his clients also include those facing other challenges, such as anxiety.
Price said he feels he brings something of value to Trumbull and has been able to make a community for people to get together and improve themselves, which is a point of pride. Recently, the Trumbull School District even reached out to Price to see if he would expand his services to work with the lacrosse team as a strength and conditioning coach.
“I just started doing this on my own, and I saw the impact that I’ve been making,” Price said. “And this is what kind of kept me doing this, because when you change people’s lives, there’s a different type of happiness that comes with it on your end. And that’s where that saying goes, you got to do what you love.”
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“I think if you do things for money, you actually get burnt out by that way. And you know, you’re not really making a impact in the community. Therefore, it’s kind of hard to kind of feel happy about what you do. So that’s kind of where I’m coming from, very happy and blessed and grateful.”