Military service is dangerous and difficult, but transitioning back into civilian life can be, too.
While studies show that more than 72 percent of veterans report having an easy time readjusting to civilian life, over 27 percent say re-entry is difficult — a number that leaps to 44 percent among veterans who served in the years since the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Alex Stone, founder of Athletes of Valor, was one such veteran.
After four years serving with the U.S. Marines, Stone came back to his Swampscott hometown and had difficulty re-adjusting to life as a civilian.
“I always wanted to serve in the Marine Corp.,” Stone said. “I enlisted as a junior in high school and went to bootcamp after graduating. While I was serving as a Marine Sergeant in Iraq, I realized that my lack of formal education would be a challenge when finding a career after serving.”
At the time, Stone didn’t know about Military Service Exemption for eligibility to join a college sports team for the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
Under the rule, military veterans who were student-athletes are exempt from the NCAA’s “five-year-rule,” which stipulates that athletes’ eligibility clocks start counting down only one year after their high school graduation.
Knowing about this clause could have made a major difference in the former athlete’s life.
“I never knew I had the ability to go back and play college sports,” Stone said.
So after graduating from North Shore Community College and working at Under Armour for five years, Stone decided to launch a startup that would help fellow veterans take advantage of the opportunity he was blind to.
With a mission of helping former servicemen and women reintegrate into civilian life, Athletes of Valor’s platform allows military veterans to become college athletes, earn a degree and ultimately, find better employment opportunities.
The online platform does this by connecting college sports coaches with active service members and veterans who make profiles on the site.
“A lot of veterans don’t know how to market themselves after leaving the military,” Stone said. “We highlight their high school info and military info, films from high school and recent training films.”
Stone added that it’s a win-win for veterans and for the schools, which usually benefit from the unique skillsets former servicemen and women have. Even if they’re not the best players on the team, their maturity, mentorship and strength are often invaluable to the team, Stone said.
The platform also has corporate partners that post jobs and internship opportunities for veterans.
Free for active service members and veterans, Athletes of Valor is profitable by charging participating employers and 15 partner colleges — a number that Stone expects to grow.
Athletes of Valor was one of the 128 startups accepted into the 2017 MassChallenge Boston program, an accelerator that helps the world's highest-impact, highest-potential startups successfully launch and grow across industries.
Photos via social media
