From the Rink to the Gym: Not as different as you may think
Sean McCann, for PHPA.com | February 7th, 2019
Professional and amateur athletes in any sport are at some point faced with the same question after their career is finished: ‘what’s next?’ Although it can be stressful for these athletes to find a different means to earn a living, there are industries that leverage the strength of professional athletes to their advantage. Former professional hockey player Brandon Cullen is living proof of that, and has leveraged his skill set to build a successful business called MADabolic Inc., which delivers strength and conditioning training to dedicated fitness enthusiasts. Now, Cullen is offering assistance to other current and former players interested in being part of the MADabolic family.
Cullen grew up in St. Catharines, Ontario, playing junior hockey for the St. Catharines Falcons. He was drafted in the fourth round by the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) playing three seasons with the Generals before being traded in 2001 to Erie, where the Otters captured the OHL Championship in 2002 and challenged for the Memorial Cup. “I played with so many talented players who went on to have successful professional careers including Brad Boyes, Carlo Colaiacovo, Cory Pecker, just to name a few,” said Cullen. “Erie is an amazing small town with a loyal fanbase as they never had another team to cheer for.”
“I honestly believe we may have had a stronger team the year before, but things happen for a reason and we were obviously still strong enough that year to go all the way. Playing with such great players was a privilege and only made myself better.”
Cullen describes himself as a true gritty power forward who had to work harder than everyone else to stay ahead. He enjoyed a productive final season in Erie, finishing with 55 points and 178 penalty minutes in 59 games. On top of that, he contributed 29 points in 21 playoff games en route to the OHL Championship.
In the summer of 2002 after winning the OHL Championship, Cullen signed a two-way contract with the Hartford Wolfpack which was somewhat unexpected. “I honestly was planning on continuing my career in University. I was enrolled with Western (University), had spent the summer training and one day my agent calls me and says that Hartford wanted to sign me.”
He was assigned to the Charlotte Checkers of the ECHL and spent four seasons with the Club from 2002 - 2006, including a 25-game appearance with Hartford in 2003-04. With Charlotte, he totalled 88 points and 454 penalty minutes in 143 games. “When I turned pro, it somewhat shifted me to the role of enforcer at times. And sometimes when you fall into a role, it follows you. In short, you do whatever is necessary to move up or stay up.”
Cullen believes he could have made a career in the American Hockey League (AHL), but injuries seemed to follow him. He had total reconstruction in his shoulder, 2 major knee injuries, and a concussion to top it off. Just when he finally healed from his shoulder surgery and was ready to come back, the NHL lockout occurred. With many players on NHL Entry level contracts permissibly assigned to the American Hockey League at the time, Cullen was a victim of the trickle-down player supply effect and found himself out of the lineup on a consistent basis.
“When the lockout happened, so many players got pushed down a step. It was tough because we knew we couldn’t do much about it except play as hard as you could.”
The summer of 2006 came with an exciting plan for Cullen as he was set to continue his pro career in Europe. “I wanted to experience playing overseas and travel at the same time. My goal was to play five seasons in five different countries, signing 1-year contracts each year.” He was set to sign with the Belfast Giants in the United Kingdom, but then the phone rang. It was his agent with an opportunity he could not pass up. The New York Islanders lost one of their power forwards to injury and wanted to invite Cullen to training camp. He agreed and ended up playing what he thought was the best hockey of his life.
“During training camp Ted Nolan and Garth Snow called me into their office where I was expecting to get cut. They said they wanted to sign me to a two-way deal, play in the AHL with Bridgeport and see about 10-15 games with New York.” Cullen immediately signed, however, before the regular season even began, he suffered a concussion in a pre-season fight and was never cleared to play again, signaling the end of his playing career.
While still under contract to the team, he was required to come to the rink and fulfill other parts of his contract. It was there where he met Kirk Dewaele, another powerful, stay at home defenseman on the final year of his contract with the Charlotte Checkers. Dewaele played 301 ECHL games and spent some time playing in Europe as well. They began to connect, spending time in the stands together and noticed some common ground between the two.
“We both took pride in being highly conditioned and had actually both trained other people during our off-seasons. I was helping other players train since I was 21 years old.” This sparked an idea between the two to start a strength and conditioning business.
Cullen and Dewaele went through a rigorous process of testing different programs and ideas in order to find the perfect blend of training techniques. From their own experience, both had been put through the typical ‘boot camp’ training, however nothing on the market offered high quality strength and conditioning for everyday people. After approximately three years of testing various programs, they finally built the program they wanted and MADabolic, Inc. was born.
Their focus was built around current and former athletes between the ages of 25-45. They had developed a successful niche business built around what is now known as ‘interval training’ which produces the ideal work-to-rest ratio for training and fitness goals. Their training techniques and business model became popular and the pair found themselves looking to expand.
What Cullen and Dewaele pride themselves on is quality over quantity. “Before we knew it, word had spread and we had interest in multiple markets looking for their own location.” It seems easy enough to say yes to all and expand across the country, but to them, it was much more complicated. “We are very cautious with growth” describes Cullen. “We wanted to be 100% confident that each new location would succeed.”
In 2012, they hired a consulting firm to help them understand the franchising process. They wanted to be sure that each location being launched would thrive in its market, but also, they wanted to be confident in their new franchisee. “A lot of our competitors are led by executives in suits that only have the business knowledge, but that’s not us. Our advantage was that we knew first-hand what athletes wanted in their training and what athletes needed to do to achieve their goals.”
They understood that athletes are a different breed and believed there was a unique opportunity to leverage this. “There is a skill-set in hockey that is not celebrated. Players grow up learning different qualities like teamwork, that can actually help them in the long run.” Many of their 9 (soon to be 11) locations are run by former athletes like themselves, and they believe that their best locations are run by these athletes.
One of Cullen’s crowning achievements was getting the opportunity to speak at a TEDTalk in Charlotte. TEDTalks are events where people with a respectable reputation and knowledge in their field speak on the career and offer advice. “I made a good first impression on a client with ties to the organization and he kind of made an informal pitch for me to audition.” However, with the audition days away, he politely declined. Dewaele encouraged him to audition anyway, preaching that there was no harm in doing so. They enjoyed his audition so much that Cullen was asked to speak at the upcoming event.
“The majority of my presentation related to a similar speech I give at our franchise discovery meetings and with all the franchisees.” The speech surrounded his life story where he offered suggestions on how to succeed in the working world, how to effectively access your qualities, and offered some humor in between. Cullen described the opportunity as one he never thought he would ever do, but was glad he did it.
Cullen is a great example of how professional athletes in any sport can remain successful following their career. Unfortunately, not all players find success like he did. “You see a close friend stay too long in the game and get lost, it’s hard to see.” Cullen wants to see former players succeed like he is and believes that all are able to do so. “It sounds weird, but I am actually enjoying life more now than during hockey and others can too.”
Cullen encourages any current or former players interested in a similar post hockey career path to inquire about an opportunity with MADabolic Inc. “Former players and athletes speak a different language, a language that we understand and know. We want to find that individual relationship and have that gut feeling when it’s going to work.” With two more locations opening in Washington D.C. and Pittsburgh, PA, he encourages former players to keep in contact.
These connections can be made possible through the Professional Hockey Players’ Association (PHPA) Alumni Network, a platform with nearly 8,000 former players and counting which helps former players connect, allowing them to interact, share experiences, and help each other find opportunities to thrive post-career. Through unique access to PHPA contacts, resources, and offers with corporate partners, each player has equal opportunity to succeed like Cullen.
A professional hockey career does not last forever, and players must consider what they plan on doing with the rest of their lives once their playing career is over. Cullen used his skill set from his hockey career to his advantage and turned an opportunity into a reality. He now lives happily in Charlotte, serving as a prime example for professional athletes everywhere. The rink and the gym apparently are not all that different after all.
