New owners of Bedford’s Redline Athletics focus on connecting with young athletes

Kelsea Lussier recently acquired Redline Athletics in Bedford with her cousin Brittany Cowen and Brittany’s husband, Craig Cowen.

Together, they’ve been improving the facility’s programs and coaching approach to help athletes ages 8 to 18 develop a lifelong interest in fitness.

Redline holds training sessions in the afternoon to early evening on weekdays and in the morning on weekends. The sessions don’t revolve around specific sports but promote comprehensive training: a combination of speed, agility, strength and flexibility.

They’re designed to be accessible for children of all skill levels, from beginners to athletes-in-training. Lussier said some of the program’s regulars are homeschooled and their training sessions serve as a substitute for gym class.

There have been some new additions at the 9,000-square-foot facility, but Lussier said the biggest changes have come from the new coaches and other staff, who place an emphasis on connecting with their athletes.

“We are focused on making sure the training is top tier for our athletes — making sure that the coaches are not only making corrections, so the kids learn proper technique and form, but also making connections,” Lussier said. “Connection comes first, then correction.”

Redline is a family business

The facility’s new owners join their coaches in the late afternoon after returning from their day jobs. They live nearby in Londonderry but work across state lines in Andover, Mass.

Lussier heard about Redline Athletics through her cousin, Brittany Cowen, whose three children regularly visit the Bedford facility. Redline Athletics is a franchise chain with facilities across the U.S., but only two locations in New England, the other being in Hudson.

“They send out emails to members saying, hey, if you’re ever interested in opening another Redline near you, contact us,” Cowen said. “We chatted with the owner and asked what that would entail, and they asked, ‘How interested are you? Because we are looking to sell.’”

Having raised three boys who compete in lacrosse, basketball, football and wrestling, Cowen is passionate about youth athletics, and she was able to persuade her cousin Lussier and husband Craig Cowen to capitalize on the opportunity.

Craig and Brittany Cowen work for competing staffing firms. Although his main job is consulting, Craig said helping young athletes is a passion, in part because he benefited from positive role models in sports growing up.

“I grew up in a single-parent home. Growing up in Haverhill, I played a lot of sports. I played football, I wrestled, and I did these things where I had great coaches and mentors, who were huge in my development,” he said.

Cowen played football for Saint Anselm College in Goffstown and since graduating, he has also worked in youth intervention, served as a director for a Boys & Girls Club and coached high school football.