#005 - Cooper Marsh - Managing Professional Athletes

Cooper Marsh is the Co-Owner of Lab MGMT — a boutique sports agency managing elite CrossFit athletes, flag football players, golfers, and more. Cooper got his start under mentor Jason St. Clair while teaching 8th grade math in Providence, Rhode Island, and has since built Lab MGMT into one of the most connected agencies in functional fitness. In this episode we get into how he and Daniel Robbins merged their rival agencies, what it's actually like to negotiate brand deals for athletes, why he thinks flag football is about to be the next big thing in sports, the FIFA World Cup, how he talked his way into Oxford University, and more.Timestamps: 0:00 — Intro + What is Lab Management? 1:46 — How Cooper got into sports agency (Jason St. Clair, X Endurance, teaching) 4:06 — Merging with Daniel Robbins and moving to Boise 5:46 — How Cooper and Daniel split responsibilities 7:29 — Handling conflict as business partners 9:58 — Prioritization and the Uncalendar system 12:55 — Why they exited skateboarding + flag football's explosive growth 18:20 — Working in baseball: what brands actually want from athletes 23:11 — The art of negotiating brand deals 25:12 — Home run partnerships: Adidas, Tier, RAD, Gym Reapers 27:00 — World Cup flyover moment + why soccer is a religion 33:16 — The Oxford story: backdoor entry, lacrosse, and varsity ski trips 40:54 — What the Oxford tutorial system actually taught him 42:29 — Why competition is central to his identity 44:40 — 4th of July spike ball + competitive indoor soccer 46:44 — Cooper's training routine (hybrid CrossFit / bodybuilding / running) 51:14 — CrossFit's current state + Hyrox's rise 54:49 — ATHEX: the bridge between Hyrox and CrossFit 57:12 — Optimism for the future of fitness + what's next for Lab MGMTFollow Cooper: Instagram: @coopermarsh / @labmgmt