CENTENNIAL, Colo. — The future of sports are so uncertain right now and high school and college athletes are itching to get back into their seasons. But Kula Sports Performance is keeping athletes at the top of their game, even without a competition in sight.
Brian Kula trains some of the top athletes in the world.
“I love doing what I do,” he said. “I don't look at it as a job. It's more of a calling.”
He works with athletes like Carolina Panthers all-pro running back Christian McCaffrey, and Canadian soccer player Janine Beckie, both high school products from the Denver metro area.
“All the strength and conditioning stuff you can imagine, we're going through the whole gamut of that with them,” Kula said.
He's been a coach and student of sports performance for 25 years.
Now his calculated, high-output workouts are recruiting younger, rising stars. He said development can start as early as 10 years old.
“We're a human movement business,” Kula said. “All sports have some level of movement that needs speed and strength and stability and balance and coordination. And so, we can tailor fit our system to match any sport.”
Kula’s program operates out of a building in Centennial he shares with fitness company Resilience Code.
He said his athletes start with activation and mobilization exercises and work up to plyometric — or jumping — movements.
"Then we work a lot on mechanics, and taking the force we're increasing in the weight room, and how to apply it to the ground properly," he said.
He said the pandemic has only made their work more important. He’s motivating kids and elites with more creative conditioning and no game day in sight.
“Helping them stay positive, and stay in shape, and not report to camps with risk of injury and things like that are probably what became more important,” Kula said.
But, he says the payoff of their hard work will come when they do eventually return to play.
“Seeing athletes have success, when you know you've helped them a little bit in certain areas — and then you see that come to fruition on the field or on the court — those are the rewards for me," he said.
Kula is also working with about 20 Olympic track and field hopefuls.
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