Christian Powell jatkaa Crocodilesissä kaudella 2023

23.10.2022, 17:16

Viime vuosina kun on puhuttu Crocodilesin hyökkäyksestä, harva jättää mainitsematta Christian Powellin nimen. Viitenä peräkkäisenä kautena Vaahteraliigan All-Starsiin valittu Powell on omalla tekemisellään antanut kasvot Crocodilesin fyysiselle juoksuhyökkäykselle. 1139 jaardia 6,6 jaardin keskiarvolla juossut Powell löysi tiensä juosten maalialueelle 16 kertaa viime kauden aikana. Powell tulee jälleen olemaan suuressa roolissa kun Crocodiles pyrkii kirkastamaan kaudella 2022 saavutetun hopeamitalin.


Powell kommentoi jatkosopimusta seuraavasti:
”Once again I’m glad to be coming back. It’s been a great run so far with a great atmosphere. I’m proud to see how far this team has come and can’t wait to see how that carries over into next year.”


Olet ollut Suomessa jo useamman vuoden, mikä on saanut sinut jäämään?
It’s been a mixture of things but overall, as I kept coming back for on the field reasons, things have been happening off the field that have kept me around. And it has been a good place to live and be in, especially in Seinäjoki with the supporting cast that I’ve had.


Olet ollut mukana myös juniorivalmennuksessa, millaista se on ollut?
That has been a blast! Just knowing what it means to these kids to work with a player is everything to me. And I hear time and time again that I’m like a role model to these kids so that’s something that I don’t take lightly at all. Over the past couple years we’ve really developed a bond and a relationship that will last a lifetime, and honestly I’m just as glad to work with them and be able to have that impact on this group.


Olet perustanut Suomessa oman yrityksen, mistä sait idean siihen ja mikä sai sinut ryhtymään yrittäjäksi? I got the idea because I’ve always been into fitness/working out, and always knew that I wanted to build a brand around that. I like both the training part, and the coaching part of helping others understand how to feel and move better, and everything revolves around getting in shape. I feel like this has been something that has been floating in my head for years now. It just never came out. You know I’ve always had people come and ask me questions and training, nutrition, workouts etc. just never had a business built out of it, so now was the time that all of that just started coming together.

Millainen yrityksesi on, mitä teet ja mikä on kohderyhmäsi?
The brand name is Athleteop, and it’s based around fitness. The idea is to take my perspective as an athlete, and show how it is relatable to everyone whether you are directly an athlete or not. Because whether you play a sport, work a job, run a business etc. you need to take care of yourself to be able to perform your best. And taking care of yourself and being fit revolves around 3 aspects, fitness, nutrition, and lifestyle. So I like to talk about those 3 components just from my athletic point of view.


Right now, I have a feature product that I have been working on which is a customizable weight vest. It was designed to mimic that of a game jersey where you can have your personal name, logo and favorite number, but it’s really up to the user to decide how they want to design it. Along with that I offer training programs and nutrition programs. And in the future I’m going to offer apparel and more types of training equipment.


My target group is people who are into training and fitness. Generally a younger demographic around 20-30, and who have an idea about fitness but need that extra guidance and support. With that said, it’s not limited to just that because I’ve worked with people from many different backgrounds.

https://www.athleteop.com


Millaista on yhdistää treenaaminen ja oman yrityksen pyörittäminen?
It has been everything you can imagine. Exciting, exhausting, interesting, confusing and so on. But there’s definitely a lot of lessons to learn from that within itself. But you quickly see that it’s just about having that balance and finding a way to get it done.


Oliko yrityksen perustaminen vaikeaa?
Yes, just because it’s such a big learning curve. There is so much that you have to learn and do so it’s definitely not a simple task. But the biggest thing is to just do it, because once you take that step there’s a lot of knowledge and experience that you’ll naturally gain just from starting a company.


Kuinka vertaisit Suomea ja Yhdysvaltoja yrittämisen kannalta, tiedätkö onko yrittäjäksi ryhtyminen erilaista siellä ja täällä?
I believe there are similarities and differences to starting a company. You know just what you register as, the taxes to pay and things like that. But for me the main difference was having to take a few extra steps since this isn’t my native country.

Mihin haluaisit päätyä yrittäjänä, mitkä ovat unelmasi?
At the end of the day, I want to have my own athletic style training facilities as the centerpiece of it all. A place for athletes or anyone who wants to get work in to train, and have a space to focus on improving themselves.


Uskotko, että urasi amerikkalaisen jalkapallon parissa on auttanut yrittäjäksi ryhtymisessä?
Yes, because there are so many lessons to be learned from playing football for one. And on top of that, football is the reason why I have made these connections and been able to start a business on the other side of the world.


Mikä on seuraava iso askel, jonka suunnittelet ottavasi?
Just to build this brand and get this thing going. You know there are 100 things going through my head, but for now the main thing I want to do is build the brand and let everything else follow.