A trio of Stamford friends with a keen interest in athletics will open a training facility in Stamford this summer.
Not that unusual, perhaps. Except that two of its co-owners ”“ Desmond Hinds and Alex Joseph ”“ have known each other since they were seven years old. Their relationship with the third, Ross Bertrand, dates back only to middle school. (A fourth member, Richard Rodriguez, joined a couple of years ago.)
“We”™ve always been close,” Hinds told the Business Journal. “And we all have a lifelong love for playing football.”
Indeed, Joseph spent time with the Green Bay Packers, Oakland Raiders, Carolina Panthers and San Francisco 49ers in addition to playing college ball at Temple. Bertrand played for the University of Albany and Hinds for Iona College and Pace University.
That all three earned degrees ”“ Hinds with a B.S. in Business Management and an M.S. in Sports Management; Joseph with a B.A. in Criminal Justice; and Bertrand with a B.S. in Science ”“ may go some way in explaining another unusual aspect of their business: Its name, Xenhouse.
“We were going to go with ”˜The Training Lab,”™” Hinds recalled. “But everyone was telling us, ”˜That”™s not a brand, there”™s all kinds of places with names like that. You gotta do better.”™”
At a loss, Hinds said he spent hours mulling it over online before finding a list of words to describe Jesus Christ, with the Greek word “xenodochial,” which means “to help strangers,” leaping out.
“We took ”˜xen”™ from that and added ”˜house”™ to make it one word,” he said.
And that is the third unusual thing about the business. While many training facilities tend to promise to give not only one”™s body but also one”™s mind a workout, the Xenhouse team takes it a step further.
Hinds said that, when he and Rodriguez first approached each other about forming the company, the latter “asked me what I wanted to do, what my dream was.”
The answer: Giving back to the Stamford community by helping kids ”“ particularly underprivileged ones ”“ by providing what Hinds said is “more than just physical training.”
Again, the xenodochial approach.
“We want to help kids from a physical, mental and emotional approach,” he explained. “And that includes life lessons, like how to do your taxes or build a business ”“ things that we learned later in life.”
Though determined to set up shop in Stamford, Hinds said the search for the right place took some time. Certain areas that would have been gimmes during the three friends”™ youth were now out of their price range, he said.
Then a realtor friend showed them 6 Dyke Lane in the south end, “which had been completely under our radar but fit perfectly,” Hinds said.
The 3,300-square-foot facility will provide training in a number of disciplines, from general and sports-specific to yoga and programs for those with special needs. Due to open this summer, Xenhouse will initially be staffed by the three friends but expects to add trainers and support staff as business grows; Hinds said that Xenhouse plans to draw customers not only from Stamford but from Darien, New Canaan, Westport, Stratford and Bridgeport as well.
“We”™re also in the process of trademarking ”˜#PAID,”™ which reflects paying your daily dues to achieve greatness,” he said. “We”™re completely invested in this.”
