Built by a Former Pro
Built by a Former Pro
Jacob Banegas came up in an under-resourced community where the path to pro football was never handed to anyone. He earned it through hard work, and he was on his way to the CFL and NFL when COVID stopped that path cold.
That pause changed how he saw the game. He realized football was bigger than any one player, and that athletes in Las Cruces and El Paso deserved the same professional-level training their competitors already had. BUILT Sports Performance Academy was founded in 2021, and Jacob developed the Built Method in early 2022 to make that happen.
Credentials
- MSc Exercise and Sports Science
- USR1 Speed Specialist, APC, PES
- Former pro football and Division I athlete
- Former collegiate strength and conditioning coach and former NHSSCA state director
Why BUILT Exists
BUILT Sports Performance Academy was founded in 2021 and developed into the Built Method in early 2022. Jacob Banegas had been on a pro football path until COVID halted it. Instead of walking away from the game, he saw how much it was still bigger than any one athlete.
Jacob had watched talented athletes in Las Cruces and across the Southwest get overlooked. They were under-recruited and under-resourced, and too often the coaching they needed to be seen by college programs was simply out of reach. BUILT was created to close that gap, bringing elite-level sports science and coaching into a community that had never been given a level playing field.
Over more than eight years in collegiate and private strength and conditioning, Jacob has guided more than 80 athletes toward collegiate scholarships and real development. Every athlete starts with a measured baseline, and every program is built from that athlete's own numbers, then retested as they grow.
The mission is simple: to help athletes become the best version of themselves.
Our mission is to help athletes become the best version of themselves through individualized, evidence-based training that develops performance, confidence, and long-term success on and off the field. If you want to see where your athlete stands, you can read how an athlete evaluation works or call (575) 652-0692.
Meet the Coaches
Every athlete at Built Sports Performance Academy trains with coaches who have played at a high level and studied how the body performs. Here is who will be working with your athlete in Las Cruces.
Jacob Banegas
Founder and Director of Performance Development with an MSc in Exercise and Sports Science. A former pro football and Division I athlete, Jacob built the Built Method to give Las Cruces athletes the coaching resources they were missing.
Natalie Martinez
Director of Operations and Member Success and Performance Coach. She holds a B.A. in Psychology with an exercise science minor, is pursuing a doctorate in performance psychology, and has a particular interest in ACL health and recovery for adolescent female athletes.
Antonio (Tony) Ontiveros III
Performance Coach and CSCS-certified strength professional. A former collegiate football athlete at Southwestern University, he brings more than six years of collegiate strength and conditioning experience, including time at UTEP, and is pursuing a master's in exercise and sports science.
Coach Jenna Banegas
Wellness Coach and Assistant Coach with an M.A. in Exercise and Sports Science and an LMHC and CSCS credential. A Mayfield High School state champion and former D1 sprinter, she has coached NMSU track and field athletes.
Andrew Zapien
VP of Operations at Team Performance Solutions with a B.S. in Kinesiology. A former D1 football athlete, he has spent a decade in high school and collegiate strength and conditioning.
Chris Acosta and Donavan King also coach on the floor, working alongside the team every week.
The BUILT Code
Build the person, build the athlete, built for life. Every session at BUILT runs on six values, and each one shows up in how we train your athlete on the floor, not just on a poster.
Focus
Every session opens with the curriculum talk, where athletes name a long-term goal and the short-term steps to reach it.
Learn
Athletes reflect on their numbers, spot the barriers in their way, and learn to own their progress from one retest to the next.
Serve
Teammates push each other through the work, and the character that comes from serving a group carries onto the field and into school.
Train
Each athlete trains off their own tested numbers, with programming built around their sport, position, and weak points.