Every sprint begins with a lesson, and after spending five seasons wearing the Bulldog uniform and totaling more than 2,200 all-purpose yards, former running back Johnathan Arceneaux is still chasing speed. This time instead of carrying the football, he’s helping young athletes learn how to find that same speed through his own business, Arceneaux’s Performance Training.

Just weeks after Fresno State’s Pro Day on March 10, Arceneaux officially launched the business he had been quietly building in his mind. Today, Arceneaux travels throughout the Central Valley from Reedley to Selma and even Huron.

He works with athletes between the ages of 7 and 14, teaching agility, speed and explosiveness. At the same time, he is trying to become something more than just another trainer, for himself and for his young athletes.

“I don’t just be like full blown strict with them [the kids],” Arceneaux said. “No, we’re going to chop it up, we’re going to crack little jokes, have fun, but at the same time we’re going to work too. They see me as a coach, but they also see me as the cool big brother.” 

Although his football career introduced him to Fresno, it was life after the many games that convinced him to stay loyal to the Valley soil. 

“I came out here as a young kid and I turned into a man,” Arceneaux said. “It’s like Fresno became my second home.” 

Arceneaux said he believes the Valley still needs more positive opportunities for young people, especially those hoping to enter the athletic field. 

“I felt this [Fresno] was a great place for me to help contribute and also help build the next future for the Central Valley kids here,” he said.

For Arceneaux, the transition from being a full-time student-athlete and football player to becoming a mentor and coach wasn’t as difficult as some might expect. 

The combination of the discipline, accountability and structure he learned from playing football as a Bulldog translated naturally into his entrepreneurship. Arceneaux speaks highly of the Bulldogs’ assistant head coach, Coach John Baxter. In fact, the slogan plastered across his business’ promotions,”Separation is Trained,”isn’t simply marketing, but a reflection of the lessons he carried from Baxter.

“For me, so much of it goes back to Coach Baxter,” Arceneaux said. “Baxter would always tell us like, ‘It’s not about the hype, everybody wants the hype, but in the end, the hype is in the preparation of it all.’”

Not just Coach Baxter, but much of the coaching staff at Fresno State deeply prepared Arceneaux in a way you can’t learn just anywhere. 

“The coaches here, you know first and foremost they have us playing football but they’re teaching you not to just be a good football player,” he said. “Theyre teaching you traits to be a good father, husband and to even be a good coach… those traits carry on into life and you gotta hold onto them.”

During training sessions, remnants of the player he once was, sprinting across Valley Children’s Stadium, remain. 

“The only thing I miss is getting up every day and playing football, but even still, when I’m training my kids, I wear my cleats, I’ll even make sure I can do the drill before I even tell them to do it,” Arceneaux said. “I’ll demonstrate to them first because I don’t ever want to tell them to do something that I can’t do.”

Arceneaux’s first experience coaching came while volunteering with Fresno State’s Next Level Flag Football program, where during this time, he quickly discovered he enjoyed teaching the game just as much as he enjoyed playing it.

“I would say doing the Next Level Flag Football program with Fresno State,” Arceneaux said. “Just being out there and seeing how I’m able to coach the kids, being able to communicate with them, being able to get them to understand certain things. It does take a lot of patience and I’m blessed that I have been blessed to have a lot of patience.” 

That same patience has become one of the defining characteristics of his coaching style. 

“You can’t expect them [the kids] to get things right away,” Arceneaux said. “You have to find different ways to teach it to them, you know.”

Arceneaux also traces his desire to work with young athletes back even further, and growing up with multiple brothers, also prepared Arceneaux for this career path. 

“I have big brothers but I know what it’s like to see both sides and having those different role models,” Arceneaux said. “And it’s like, you get to pick and choose what you want to be, so it’s like I try to make this seem like it’s just the coolest thing in the world, because it is. Being able to play football, going to college, learning, getting a change of scenery. Knowing that you don’t have to become a product of your environment.”

That philosophy became the foundation of Arceneaux’s Performance Training, and after recognizing that many young athletes simply lacked quality instruction rather than solid athletic abilities, he put his vision for the business on paper first. 

“I just had the idea for it all, and then I transferred the idea onto a piece of paper in a journal,” said Arceneaux. “And then I just made the idea come to life.” 

His business grew faster than he expected, but the hardest part of it all was starting it. 

“I thought it was gonna be a slow process, and you know, I was okay with that,” Arceneaux said. “A lot of it took off because of word of mouth…just my character, the way that I went about my business and how I carry myself…I got to the point where I was just like, ‘Okay, imma do this.’”

The advice and mindset he still carries today now shapes the advice he gives to aspiring entrepreneurs. 

“Just do it, just do it like Nike says,” Arceneaux said. “Dont procrastinate, you also can’t worry about other people’s opinions… once you can envision something, then it’s more likely for it to happen. Put it on a piece of paper…now you can achieve it.”

His coaching philosophy extends well beyond improving an athlete’s 40-yard dash. Instead, Arceneaux is intentional in creating difficult drills that force young athletes to work through frustration. 

“You know it’s like, I’m teaching you that when things are getting hard, you could quit, or you could see it through,” Arceneaux said.

As a coach, Arceneaux is also intentional in celebrating his athletes who earn 4.0 GPAs and honor rolls just as he enthusiastically celebrates faster sprint times. 

“I have some kids getting 4.0s, making the honor roll, and you know, I share that stuff because again, I want them to truly see this is cool,” he said. “Like you guys, this is what you guys want to do. I share my stories with them…having been able to play football, coming to college, being able to travel all over the U.S. and just putting that idea into their heads, showing them this is something you can do.”

Arceneaux admits that though he still considers himself a football player first and hasn’t ruled out continuing his own playing career, coaching has given him something he didn’t anticipate—a new sense of responsibility.

“Now I’m no longer doing it for myself,” Arceneaux said. “Now I have people that rely on me…you know, I’m playing a positive role in someone’s life now.”

The stopwatch isn’t the only measure of success. Rather, it’s measured by all of the young athletes he inspires each day across the Valley. For the former Bulldog, the next chapter isn’t just about chasing his own dream—it’s about helping the next generation believe they can chase theirs.