(Part one in a three-part series)
Who’s that guy that many look to for inspiration? Rob Valentine, master trainer supreme located in Chatsworth.
He fell deep in love with the game of basketball, and it’s like Tupac once said, “You can never just be friends with someone you fall in love with.”
Likewise for Rob there’s no going back to being anything but a game changing force for legions of ballers in LA and the world he impacts.
My guy Rob runs an oasis for kids to find their inner soul. It’s like that 100.
To him it’s way more than just having access to a gym. He helps kids refine their skills and meet their basketball goals, no matter high their dreams may be. He’s helped 5 star status guys like Skyy Clark and his brother ZZ after untold hours with Rob.
I should know I was proud to try and introduce the group together:
Click here for Skyy Clark article
Rob will take a 5th grade kid without much skills who’s just trying to form their jump shot and he’ll train them with the same serious effort as with a 5 star because he loves all people the same.
He believes all people are children of God, worthy of love, care and devotion to the craft.
Simply put, Rob cares as much to meet a person’s passion for life at hoops as any trainer or person that I have ever met. Period. He’s a real one of the highest order.
Buckle up because Rob’s story I will tell in 3 parts (this being the 1st installment). Like MJ’s “The Last Dance” documentary, it will be hard hitting and nothing but the truth.
It’ll display the life of a man in his early 30’s so committed to kids that he is headed to that Mt. Rushmore status of trainers in LA if he keeps up his grind and body of of work.
I’ve known so many legendary basketball greats from LA in my time like, Olin Simplis The Guard Whisperer of Wasserman Agency and Pooh Jeter owner of Laced LA, the mentor who raised Russ Westbrook, J-Harden and a legion more LA ballers alongside NBA legend Baron Davis.
And there’s Drew League legend and Currency Leads to Consistency founder Keion Kindred who is the Gatekeeper of LA, aka Keyz, who I venture is Rob Valentine’s biggest supporter.
I know Gilbert Arenas who drops knowledge like no other and I know other LA greats like Marcus LoVett as well.
My point is that Rob mentors and dishes out jewels of insights to kids to be the best versions of themselves just like those guys I mentioned because Rob cares on that elite level like those guys care.
Rob helps conduct NBA pre-draft camps to prepare elite players like his guy Duncan Robinson of the Miami Heat and many more to be ready to step into the NBA. Rob has gears.
Really, what more can I say of an awe-inspiring mentor who possesses abilities like few others possess?
Rob was and is a skilled baller; this 6-2 killer shooting guard that terrorized defenses in every pro league that he has played in all over the world. He is made of what they call stardust as a mentor and a shooter. That is extremely rare on our terra firma.
After spending so many years playing ball overseas and earlier as a player growing up in LA, his life mission is to help kids in his training facility and on his Valentine AAU team.
Let’s rewind and see where it all began for him as a youngster that just loved to ball at age 4 and 5 years of age growing up in Pasadena.
Rob was exposed to other sports such baseball and golf while playing basketball growing up at the Pacoima Boys and Girls Club.
He’d be amazed as a youngster while watching adults grind and show their teeth and grit at the “Terrordome” street ball outdoor playground games.
Feel his words on his upbringing, “The gangster ballers would toughen you up in those hard fought games out there. I would rise through the ranks to hone my skills, create an edge and mentality that would propel me to success in high school.
“I’d average lots and lots of points in prep, like 44 points per game and lead my conference. That hadn’t been seen in our area since Tracey Murray. I took my game to Ecclesia College and had a good career there too.
“Being a pro in England influenced me to love the game. I looked up to ballers like Chris Jackson, Baron Davis, Tracey Murray, and Penny Hardaway.
"I had this emotion in me that was just as intense as a Kevin Garnett to love the game and all those around me. Passion. It’s 100% for people that come out mean on the court and in basketball you have to be aggressive to be successful I think.”
#powerful
I could talk so much more of Rob’s 7 years playing in China, how basketball saved his life. I wrote down 12 pages of notes, front and back which is more scribe than anyone I’ve ever taken info on.
Point is I could write a book on Rob, send a documentary crew to film his life story and still not do him justice.
Bring up Rob’s name to insiders within our close hoop community of prep, college, street, Drew League, overseas, WNBA, or NBA people that carry cred as coaches, trainers or players in LA and abroad and what is the response? Rob Valentine is a man who gets that mad respect!
Hear his voice as it drops out conviction like few I’ve ever, ever heard. It’s like Martin Luther King delivering a sermon. His mission isn’t hoops, it’s transforming lives.
Rob’s gaze? It’s transfixed on “the prize” people. And that is caring for each of his clients like he would his own beautiful Nubian daughter. I’d trust him with my own Giselle anytime.
His secret sauce was passed down by a top 50 NBA all time great that wanted him to share these skills with the world. Rob rolls so hard with many greats, like our friend the great Keion Kindred of prep basketball fam at Dominguez High fame.
Keion would’ve been an NBA All Star if not for the micro fractures in his knees. He and Rob together constitute “The Take Over” of a big bro, little bro powerhouse friendship that has impacted so many lives with their training and mentorship.
Keion is the co-founder of Air West with the ever dope Chris Young who is also a mentor to legions. Read more here.
Keion coaching and Rob as an assistant together have won Drew League men and women chips and have massive training schedules that have transformed untold lives. And the best part? These two are just getting started.
Both are young in their 30’s so still have much to give to the game. Wow, what wonders will they yet add to the game?
Dear readers, you’ll have to wait for more of the phenomenal life details of the amazing Rob Valentine, who is 1 of 1. I’ve promised my readers who have a hard time getting through long lengthy stories that I’ll write shorter stories now.
So I’ll leave you with this powerful knowledge about Rob. He’s the kind of guy that cares to impact kids and give back without doing it for the money. For him it’s not a scheme to get rich off people.
If he were a hard-on-his luck person that was living in his car I asked, “Would you still be training kids, helping people Rob?”
He said, “Yes, I’m about people and basketball is what drives me. It’s my sense of peace, it’s my anger, my passion, my everything. I have loved training guys I got so, so close to like Isaiah Elohim.
“Together we helped to maximize his potential, being there for him as a friend and seeing him grow to greatness at an early age. Just as I did with Skyy who committed to Kentucky at one point and is currently playing for Illinois. His younger brother ZZ Clark is in high school and [was once] committed to Illinois.
“The two are elite players besides the coolest kids from a super great family. But I put my all into each kid because they need the best from me to get the best of themselves to come out.
“We just need to work together to meet each other’s energy. We devise a plan and get it done. It’s an honor to work with people. I really enjoy it more than I can say.”
I feel the same about Rob that he feels about working with kids. Lately I’ve referred high school Wooden award winners like Marianne Boco (Granada Hills) to Rob to have him help them improve even more.
I reffed this 6-3 European powerhouse prep girl Brigita, who has only been in the states a few months but yet is so driven and so sweet to work with. Rob senses she could be “the one” and could go on to a great college and pro career!
I trust Rob because he knows crazy talented WNBA pros like Essence Carson and Breanna Stewart among many others. I’d love to see Brigita playing for our girl Noelle Quinn, the head coach of the Seattle Storm of the W someday.
I’ve known so many women in the W, many are fam like Reshanda Gray, Kennedy Burke, Marina Mabrey, Arica Carter, and so many others. I can tell which people have winning attitudes to make it as a pro. This European girl does, and Rob brings the best out of people to make them pros indeed!
I’ll give Rob the ultimate compliment. He is in his 30s and is on track to be like the other Mt. Rushmore of trainers in LA. He is a gentle soul, an old soul like my fav all time rapper and poet Tupac.
Rob personifies Pac and in his own personality is emblazoned with the same passion, methodology, charisma, and desire to transform hard hitting truth. 100. That’s the rarest of rare I find in a good human.
Tupac, son of Afeni Shakur, was raised by the street but never let anger swallow him up. His craft was born to inspire others to get out of the cage and matrix. Tupac said,
Why am I fighting to live, if I'm just living to fight
Why am I trying to see, when there ain't nothing in sight
Why am I trying to give, when no one gives me a try
Why am I dying to live, if I'm just living to die
Rob is dying to help, and living to help. He’s the man climbing the mountain of faces of the best that ever did it. One person and team at a time he coaches and trains up.
Look for parts 2-3 on Rob’s life in the future!
