vaters was known as a sportsman in latvia since 1921, however his career in football really took off in 1925 when he played with jks riga which in that year finished second in the top riga football league (vaters was more of a reserves player then though). the following season was less successful for jks and at the end of it vaters moved to a stronger side - lsb riga. in 1926 he also played in several matches for the riga garrison selected team alongside more famous footballers like arvīds jurgens, pēteris lauks, arvīds bārda and arkādijs pavlovs.