How former UNLV gridder learned the ropes in performance training biz

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Wade Vandervort

Mike Waters wanted to remain involved in athletics after playing football at UNLV. He has grown Phase 1 Sports into a premier training brand.

Sat, Jul 4, 2020 (2 a.m.)

Phase 1 Sports

Gabriel Lopez performs squats at Phase 1 Sports, Wednesday, June 24, 2020. Launch slideshow »

Mike Waters had about 25 local high school athletes for this training session at a Las Vegas public park. Each paid $10 for one hour of footwork and agility training.

“All these kids were handing me $10 bills and jumping in line,” Waters remembered.

But a few minutes into the training, a park marshal arrived asking for Waters’ field permit. He had none.

He didn’t realize he needed to pay to use the field, he explained to the marshal. Turns out, there was much Waters didn’t know about the paperwork side of running a business. The practice was stopped, Waters gave the athletes their money back and the feeling of embarrassment was humbling.

Turns out it was the best thing to happen.

That day helped launch Phase 1 Sports, which over the past 17 years has grown into one of the area’s premier training brands. It has a 20,000-square-foot facility in the south valley complete with a kitchen for nutrition, a rehabilitation area for physical therapy, and most important, a 30-yard turf football field to work with athletes. There’s a second location near Summerlin at Las Vegas Sports Park.

It costs from $150-$600 monthly to train.

On any given day, Waters will host a youth football team with players learning the basics, high school athletes preparing for a new season, and NFL players staying in shape during the pandemic.

“The sole purpose has always been to take athletes to the next level, whatever that next level is for them,” Waters said.

About 15 members of the Raiders and most of the locals in the NFL — the likes of Will Hernandez from the Giants, Tyrell Crosby of the Lions and Xavier Grimble of the Colts — are regulars at Phase 1 Sports. Waters coordinates with strength and conditioning coaches of the NFL teams for a regimen.

His passion will always be working with high school athletes, including hosting a 7-on-7 passing league team to help give prospects competition and college exposure.

Desert Pines senior Michael Jackson III, who recently committed to USC, has trained with Waters for the past five years. This offseason, Jackson has added about 10 pounds of bulk to his frame in part to the plan established by Waters.

“They’ve helped me put on the weight and put it on the right way,” Jackson said. “It’s the atmosphere of being in that building and seeing other dudes train.”

Super Bowl champion and NFL free agent Brandon Marshall has trained with Waters since he attended Cimarron-Memorial High. Waters chuckles recalling those days, when “we’d jump the fence at Clark High School to train.”

Waters played football at UNLV and always wanted to stay involved in athletics. A few months before graduation, he started to formulate the idea for a training center. Many advised him that it wouldn’t be profitable.

Waters, nearly 20 years later, is proud to say he didn’t listen. This has been his lone job.

“They told me to make this a hobby on the weekend,” he said. “I didn’t believe them. I knew I would figure it out.”

Figuring it out was easier said than done.

He’d spend hours at the Small Business Administration office asking questions about the how to launch the endeavor. There were licenses to apply for, certifications to earn, forms to complete and endless moments of self-doubt.

“The woman from the SBA couldn’t get me out of her office,” Waters said. “I had no business experience. But I wasn’t afraid to ask, ‘What does that look like? or Why do I need that.’”

Waters’ first break came in the mid-2000s when he coordinated to use a physical therapy office after hours for training. It was small and he could only work with clients after hours, but the space was free. Three moves later, Waters three years ago expanded to the current location off Interstate 15 and Blue Diamond Road.

And now the clients aren’t only athletes.

There’s patients rehabbing from surgery, seniors staying fit, those attempting to lose weight and friends taking a fitness class. And then there’s Nevada National Guardsman Taevian Jacobs, who trains with his military vest in preparation for being called into duty.

“No matter what size or shape you are, this place gives you an opportunity to get yourself in better condition,” said the 21-year-old Jacobs, a former U.S. Army infantryman. “You can’t help being inspired to train when you are working out next to everyone here.”

Those days of inadvertently squatting at public parks are long gone, but the motivation remains the same. Waters spends six days a week hosting training sessions and plotting his next expansion, which this summer includes turning a basketball court at the Southwest location into an indoor soccer center.

“A lot of days it hasn’t been easy,” Waters said. “A lot of days there’s something new to learn.”

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