Back in the late 1980s, Kevin Cleary was an early-in-his career athletic trainer working with an All State Bethel High School wrestler and football player by the name of Pat Smith who went on to continue his career on the grid iron as a defensive lineman at the University of Connecticut.

Fast forward nearly 40 years — and thousands of clients, including some who have gone on to play professionally — later, and Cleary is working with Smith’s daughter, Phoebe, a standout soccer and track and field athlete who is in middle school in Redding. Cleary trains Phoebe at his business/gym, Athlete Factory, located at 77 South Main Street.

Cleary’s career has, in some ways, come full circle. Cleary had such a positive impact on Smith, now 53, that he wanted Cleary to help his daughter prepare for competition so he reached out to his former fitness coach.

“It was so amazing to reconnect with Kevin after all this time. Life moved so fast when we were training together, and even faster afterwards. It’s just so special that Phoebe has the opportunity to train under Kevin now. There just aren’t that many people that have his kind of knowledge, experience, and personal dedication to his athletes,” Smith said.

“Kevin was first a motivator and a goal setter, and he would not let you set low goals for yourself. He was then the guy that charted a course and always did the workouts side by side with me. He knows how hard things can get on your journey, and was always there — especially when you began to question yourself. He has this same relationship with his athletes today. He simply doesn’t let them give up, no matter what,” Smith added.

A lot can change throughout the decades and things are more advanced from a technological standpoint with workouts tracked on phones, for example. But things can also stay the same. As they say — if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

“Kevin’s workouts are still rooted in the old school way: hard work, focus, physical and mental strength — only now he has years worth of collaborative experience and performance science on his side. He’s always learning, and applying this know-how to advance his athletes. It’s a small world; I know he spent time collaborating with my strength coach at UConn, Coach Jerry Martin, as well — someone who was cut from a similar cloth to Kevin,” Smith added.

An example of what Cleary does with his clients these days is training them to run with the proper movement mechanism to increase speed potential.

Phoebe recently earned All American status in hurdles and long jump at the Indoor National Track and Field Championships. In addition to Cleary, Smith said his daughter has terrific coaches in soccer (Mike Diker, AC Connecticut Soccer Club) and in track (Shawn Sorbello, Danbury Hatters and Western Connecticut Flash). “These coaches are just so dedicated to their athletes — there really isn’t anything more important to their overall growth,” said Smith — now the CEO for Origin Commercial Ventures, an investment company focused on accelerating the most promising science and medicine aimed at complex disease — who remains active, swimming and running.

Helping athletes, such as Phoebe, be as strong, quick, and explosive as possible on the playing fields and courts is only part of what Cleary does. Having trained athletes ranging from children under the age of ten on up to those in their 80s, and ranging from those recovering from injury to athletes building strength and adults looking to stay active, Cleary has adopted techniques for all. One across-the-board strategy Cleary implements is to cycle the training, changing the exercises, repetitions, and loads, developing the connection between the brain and muscles.

“We need to get them better year after year, and we have to keep them on the field,” Cleary said of working with student-athletes. “With the general population it’s more about fighting aging, preventing injury, and being flexible,” Cleary said.

Cleary has a BS in Physical Education and an MS in Organizational Leadership, and holds current certification to teach K-12 Physical Education and to coach high school sports in Connecticut. He holds Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist Certification through The National Strength and Conditioning association, as well as a Sports Performance Coach certification through USA Weightlifting. A former wrestler and football player, he has coached both sports at the youth and high school levels. He competed on the TV show American Gladiators in 1991.

Prior to opening Athlete Factory in 2012, he was a personal trainer and strength and conditioning coach at area gyms, including Club NewFit and NYA Sports & Fitness.

Cleary works with athletes from Newtown High School as well as many in surrounding towns, such as Joel Barlow in Redding, Brookfield, and Masuk of Monroe. On any given Friday night he is following multiple high school football games online. Cleary says he feels like a parent of these student-athletes.

“I don’t have to pay for their food and college,” he joked.

Of course, if the athletes excel, the training and skill they put in and possess in the weight room and on the playing surfaces, can end up paying for school in the form of scholarships. On the wall at Athlete Factory there are numerous college pennants representing the athletes Cleary has trained who have advanced in their playing careers.

Cleary strives to make athletes the best they can be with their off-field preparation, but is passionate about young athletes being at their best without overdoing it. He has been inspired to write a book “Let ‘Em Play,” which will highlight the changes in youth sports such that children are pushed too much at a young age and, thus, lose interest in their sport.

Cleary, who will be 61 in May, has compiled an extensive and impressive list of athletes he has helped succeed on the playing fields and courts.

A sampling of those he has trained throughout the years: Jamey Richard — 2002 Weston High School All-State football, Buffalo football, went on to play for the Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots; Mike Evans — 2002 Weston High School All-State Basketball, Hamilton College, pro basketball in Europe; Patrick Afriyie — 2014 Loomis Chaffee High School, Colgate University All-American, who played for the San Diego Chargers; Andrew Gellert — 1997 Newtown All-American Football and All-American basketball, Harvard basketball, who still holds state football interception record; Jack Street — 2020 Newtown High school quarterback on the Class LL State Championship team, Sacred Heart; Ben Mason — 2017 Newtown High School, All American Football, Connecticut Player of the Year, Michigan, Baltimore Ravens; and Riley Powers — 2023 Newtown High School All-New England indoor and outdoor track and field and soccer, headed to Central Connecticut State University.

Visit athlete-factory.com for information.

Sports Editor Andy Hutchison can be reached at andyh@thebee.com.