David began his quest for fitness early on as a Division III Basketball player at Elmira College for 2.5 years. David received his Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice and Psychology at Sam Houston State University in 2012 while jointly working as personal trainer for 5 years. In 2012, David fell in love with CrossFit at a local team competition and immediately began his CrossFit journey. In 2013, he became a Level 1 CrossFit Coach later progressing to Owner and Operator of CrossFit Brave Affiliate in 2016. Currently, David is a full-time Fire Fighter with the City of Durham, Head Coach, and current Owner.

Delaney is originally from the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York. She has a B.S. in Nutrition and Dietetics from the University of New Haven in CT. She wanted to be a professional baseball player until she was 10 years old. In high school, Delaney participated in varsity track, soccer, and basketball, and she played a number of sports through college including handball and football.

Delaney did her first CrossFit workout at her L1 in October 2017 and has been in love with it ever since. She loves pull-ups, cleans, and anything with a barbell or box.

Victoria's early athletic career including dance (ballet, tap, jazz/lyrical), soccer, and avoiding participation in Phys Ed. Growing up outside of Asheville, she was also an avid mountain biker. Through college and graduate school, the extent of her physical activities were LARPing, moshing at metal shows, and playing Dance Central on Xbox. She began CrossFit in 2012 to start "sweating for the wedding," and never stopped. Victoria has been an active member of CrossFit Brave since 2013 and a CrossFit Brave coach since 2016.

Victoria's loves deadlifts and squats (and Jim Wendler). She is firm believer that fitness isn't limited to time in the box: Victoria has participated in a wide variety of competitions, including both CrossFit and Strongman competitions and bodybuilding shows, and has taken on physical challenges from the occasional 5k or mud run to climbing walls to aerial dance. She continues to study and read up on training and nutrition, and loves to share her knowledge to help new and experienced athletes grow in their sport. She can also probably still put up a pretty solid score in Dance Central.

I have been doing CrossFit since 2016. After being in hyper shape while in the U.S Army, I realized one day my weight had grown unhealthy, and with a sedentary occupation, something had to change. I found CrossFit through a challenge type program as a way to lose some weight. This community is something I was not expecting to have as part of my weight loss journey. The accountability, friendly competitiveness, and support has been a key part of my success.

I have coached soccer, baseball, and swimming in the past. As a coach, I enjoy seeing the individuals succeed where they doubted their ability to reach their goal in a workout or skill. Think about your first pull-up, first toes to bar or first clean. When someone has that light bulb moment and they realize they’re stronger and more capable than they think, it’s a very rewarding and powerful event.

For me, finding CrossFit has been life changing. I look forward to sweating with you in a WOD.

Melissa originally discovered CrossFit at CrossFit UNC while an undergraduate student at Chapel Hill. After graduation, she was a self-described "casual crossfitter" for a few years before jumping in with both feet and taking the L1 CrossFit Coaching Course in the summer of 2018. Melissa's favorite part about coaching is working to make every movement and workout both accessible and challenging for athletes of all levels.

Jayson is originally from Manhattan N.Y were he played football in Junior High School and High School. After watching the 2014 CrossFit Games I decided to try it with some friends and I drank the cool aid.

In 2018 he obtained his Level 1 and began helping others with their own transformations. CrossFit is a lifestyle, always testing your limits and reaching your goals.

Born in Brooklyn, NY - Raised in Jersey City, NJ - Became the man that I am today in the midwest at Marquette University & The University of Notre Dame. Family & Education were two important pillars of my youth and continued to be ever present as I went through school and moved across the US. I was able to get my bachelors degree at Marquette & my masters degree at the University of Notre Dame (the same place I met my lovely wife, Anna Egalite.)

With the love and support of my family, I played high school football, I participated in hip hop performance groups, danced for traveling african dance troupes, and was part of latin american dance associations. After college I became a group fitness instructor in formats such as Zumba, RIPPED, Tabata, Bootcamps, Cycle, and TRX when I eventually found my calling as an ACE certified personal trainer.

Why did I become a personal trainer? To educate and motivate on an individual, one on one level. The ability to use my knowledge, experience, and love of something to help enrich somebody else's life. I've had so many clients tell me their favorite part of the day was our session; what a fantastic feeling! I can't believe how lucky I am to play such a pivotal role in people's lives. It's really a cool existence!

The next part in that journey was to be able to have that impact on a larger scale through the Crossfit community. Crossfit was able to challenge me in ways that I did not know I needed. So seeing the opportunity to be that impact in someone else's life is an opportunity that I jump at. I view myself as a catalyst in a person's life. Even though I am not actively participating in the process, my presence is necessary for the transformation to occur.

The best part for me is to see the wonder in a member's face when he/she just did something that she had considered entirely beyond her grasp. Seeing confidence building, starting with physical confidence, and then permeating into all areas of his/her life.

My goal is to pass on to those who want to improve their body, self-esteem, performance and quality of life through my passion, my energy and vast professional knowledge.

I am originally from Alabama. I have a Bachelor’s in Management Information Systems from the University of Alabama. In high school I was a member of the football team and played until my senior year. In college I took multiple sports/physical fitness classes along with trying out for the Rugby team. I started CrossFit in 2017 and it provided the workout environment I have been looking for since high school. After almost a year at CrossFit I wanted to continue growing and becoming a CrossFit Coach was my next step.

John or Smitti as he's known, has a passion for athletic development and takes great pride in helping athletes reach their potential. He believes that the commitment, attention to detail, and the preparation it takes to become a better athlete goes beyond sport and enhances personal growth. That passion led him to the sport of weightlifting and to start Barbells N Sprinkles weightlifting club in 2015. Since beginning Barbells N Sprinkles he has taken a number of athletes to youth nationals, junior nationals, masters nationals and the amercan open finals.

Smitti holds a BS in Physical Education with a minor in Health Education (2005) from Grand Valley State University. During his time at GVSU he competed as a Defensive Back on the football team that went to four Division II national championships, winning three. He was a member of the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) as a certified strength and conditioning coach from 2005 to 2007. He is currently a USA Weightlifting level 2 coach.

Smitti is a full-time Health and Physical Education teacher and coach at the high school level. Coaching commitments have included Football, Track and Field and Women’s Basketball. He has developed training for student athletes in multiple sports including Football, Baseball, Cheerleading, Softball, and Lacrosse. As well as Men’s and Women’s Basketball, Track and Field, and Golf. Several of the student athletes who have participated in programming have gone on to play at the collegiate level. These schools include Division I; Bowling Green, Air Force, Clemson University, and UNC-Greensboro and Division II; Saginaw Valley State, Campbell University, and Lenoir-Rhyne University.

COMING SOON