Valentine Barnaby is not your typical youth-athlete turned successful adult, coach and mentor. Val began playing youth sports at a young age and continued into his adult life recognizing that the challenges faced in everyday life can be as daunting as those faced on the court and athletic field. Through his work ethic, dedication, and drive, he created a successful athletic high school career, which carried him through college and beyond as a youth-athlete trainer, mentor and fitness professional.
As a three-sport athlete at Franklin High School, including soccer, football and track, he was determined to make the best of every bad situation and turn every good situation great. Following high school, Val earned a full scholarship to Rutgers University, where he helped propel the team to their first national ranking in decades. Yet his mantra was always, “Academics first, athletics second.” As he explains, “I made a promise to my mother that I will not leave college without my degree.” He fulfilled that promise and more, founding and launching ESSA (Explosive, Strength, Speed, Agility) Sports Performance & Fitness a decade later.
Today, he strives to instill that mantra, along with nurturing a sense of independence, strength and determination in today’s young athletes. He understands that there is more to the world than what we see every day in our own home towns and strives to share this life lesson with his young clients. “It is my mission to help today’s student athlete be tomorrow’s successful adult,” shares Val. Knowing that today’s youth-athletes must be groomed for adversity on and off the field in order to face obstacles and challenges in everyday life, Barnaby created ESSA Sports Performance & Fitness, a facility dedicated to helping youth-athletes break barriers and push beyond their potential.
Val, along with his staff, takes the time to educate each individual client on proper technique and create personalized group and individual performance programs that ensure the success of each client. He is committed to helping today’s youth reach not only their fitness and performance goals, but their life goals as well. “Our goal is to prepare everyone to face all aspects of life head on with strength and determination and come through victorious,” relays Val. He encourages our youth to, “Live in the moment and work for your future,” a notion which gave rise to the birth of ESSA Sports Performance & Fitness. He leads by example through both his current work with youth-athletes and his own athletic career when he encourages his mentees and those around him to, “Always bring your best!”
WEforum would like to invite Val to the WEforum Hall of Fame 2024 for his dedication and commitment to young athletes and for his devotion to furthering the sport in the community that first fueled his love of sports. He shares his experience and knowledge with our youth in order to help them navigate the world of sports’ play at a high level, setting them up for future successes while advocating for themselves. Congratulations to Val, as he is being honored this year as one of two Elite Hall of Fame coaches who will be recognized for his leadership and dedication to nurturing youth athletes at every level. 2024 is the first year WEforum will present the WEforum Fit Crawl 2024 Honoree award to honor Elite Hall of Fame coaches who go above and “Beyond the Game.” Val will also receive the Coaching and Training Excellence Award for outstanding achievement in the coaching profession and unparalleled dedication to mentoring youth athletes.
