The Assist Vegas Difference
Professional athletes and celebrities live very different lifestyles than the average person. This brings a different level of stress, demands and pressure to everyday life that can ultimately take away focus from their career if not managed properly. In addition to having a stressful and intense daily work schedule, these individuals need to ensure that their bodies and minds are prepared to consistently perform at peak levels during long, demanding seasons. This can take a toll both physically and mentally. The act of balancing one’s professional and private life is a time consuming and daunting task for even the most organized individual. With the ultimate focus being his/her craft, celebrities and/or professional athletes could benefit from utilizing a personal assistant service to coordinate, organize and manage daily living activities. A personal assistant with the intimate knowledge of the athletic lifestyle, both collegiate and professional, can prove to be a wise investment in their future and an essential resource.
Growing up, sports has been my passion and I knew early on that someday the passion I felt would translate into a rewarding professional career. While growing up in Atlanta, my family were season ticket holders for the Atlanta Hawks, Atlanta Falcons, and New Orleans Saints. It was during that time my interest in sports peaked. Once I graduated from high school, I moved to Las Vegas to pursue a bachelor's degree in Hospitality Management at UNLV. Sophomore year of college I had my first experience working in sports in a volunteer position with the Houston Rockets as a Team Assistant during NBA Summer League. During this time, I was responsible for tending to team and individual player needs during the 2 week duration. This experience afforded me the opportunity to work as a Team Assistant for the New Orleans Pelicans for two additional years. I was quickly promoted to a management position within NBA Summer League after the stint with the Rockets and Pelicans. I held this position for five years and was given supervisory responsibility over all team assistants and ball boys and was appointed the “go to” person for league officials, referees, team staffs, media personnel and players at the Thomas and Mack. I supervised arena activities ensuring all ran smoothly on and off the court to meet game schedule deadlines. This opportunity led me to my first official job in sports in the equipment department at UNLV as a student manager during my senior year of college.
Junior year, I was introduced to UNLV SG Jelan Kendrick and become roommates senior year when his fellow teammates and roommates declared for the draft. This was my first experience of living with an athlete and quickly learned the daily pressures a college athlete faces attempting to balance their personal life, education and athletic career. Post-graduation, I worked with USA Basketball (USAB) assisting the equipment manager during the duration of USAB Camp in Vegas and have assisted at this event for the past four years. Key responsibilities included, but were not limited to:
Organizing and unpacking all equipment for the upcoming week.
Opening and preparing the gym for practices and individual shooting times.
Arranging transportation to and from hotels for players and staff.
Ensuring team laundry needs were arranged for and clean items delivered to the respective hotels.
Packing and shipping all equipment back to the USA main campus.
At the end of the summer in 2015, I accepted an NBA internship in the equipment department with the Detroit Pistons. There, responsibilities were extensive and included:
Receiving, inventorying, sizing and distributing gear for players, coaches, and staff.
Assisting players with equipment requests.
Clean-up and organize coach and player locker rooms daily.
Prepare all uniform and equipment needs for road trips.
Meet and unload equipment from team plane after a road trip.
Provide rides for players when needed.
On home game days, set up all game essentials for both home and away team.
Main contact for visiting team starting at morning shoot around until team left arena.
While working for the Pistons, I gained many great and valuable friendships with players and became a source of help if they ever needed anything outside the organization.
After spending two years with the Pistons, I returned to UNLV as the Assistant Director of Athletic Equipment and functioned as the head Equipment Manager of Men’s Basketball and Women’s Volleyball. Responsibilities in this role included, but were not limited to:
Maintaining inventory.
Preparing and delivering equipment to athletes, coaches, and staff members.
Ordering athletic equipment for assigned sports.
Preparing home and away game day necessities for athletes.
Packing all travel equipment bags for road trips (i.e practice/shoot around/game loops, uniforms, shoes, and backup gear).
In charge of court safety, ball boys and all laundry needs for Mountain West Conference Tournament.
Having developed relationships with NBA players and team personnel over the years working NBA Summer League, USA Basketball, and for the Pistons, I became a trusted connection for gym access in Vegas for players and celebrity personal to workout privately, if they needed a venue while in town.
My ultimate passion is providing help to others and setting them up for success in anything they aspire to do. Based on my past experiences, I have demonstrated that I’m a hardworking, dedicated, loyal, and passionate individual who cares about the success of others. For the reasons stated previously, I decided to start Assist Vegas LLC (AVLLC) Personal Assistant Services to provide help in organizing and directing those life details clients need so they can devote 100% of their focus to their chosen profession. Understanding and knowing the everyday demands of celebrities/athletes and how they must operate and function daily is what separates Assist Vegas LLC from the rest. AVLLC is in a position to provide an exquisite service to clients to make their daily life as stress-free as possible outside of their professional career and make an impact on their life personally and professionally short and long term. If you are interested in finding out more about me or in becoming a client of Assist Vegas LLC, please feel free to contact me at (702) 513-5587 or by email at assistvegas@gmail.com. Thank you for taking the time to learn about me and I look forward to having an opportunity to speak and work with you in the near future.
Chris Nelson
Founder and Owner