Unlike college-athlete recruiting services, Athletes of Valor uniquely serves servicemen and women throughout the different stages and challenges of their transition. First, by connecting qualified, competitive servicemen and women with collegiate coaches, and then by facilitating internship and job opportunities with corporate partners. Athletes of Valor’s only-of-its-kind model provides veterans an avenue to showcase their skills and character traits while also giving collegiate coaches the space they need to access experienced veteran athletes.
What's the Connection?
Over one million servicemen and women will transition over the next four years, and statistics show that only about fifty percent will end up earning a degree. With around 85% of student-athletes graduating, the numbers tell a story. With Athletes of Valor, veterans have a unique opportunity to compete on a collegiate team, contribute their experience and maturity, and be a part of something bigger than themselves. Bridging the communication gap between service members and collegiate coaches is at the core of Athletes of Valor’s overall mission to help veterans transition successfully.
How Can Athletes of Valor help?
Before Athletes of Valor, veterans lacked the tools and exposure to generate interest and get recruited, and collegiate coaches had virtually no direct way of communicating with service members who wanted to play sports at the collegiate level.
Athletes of Valor’s two-sided platform allows veterans to initiate the process by creating a recruitment profile where they can share their stories, upload highlights, training and skills footage, and share their strengths.
When veterans transition back into civilian life, it’s the comraderies and tight-knit relationships found in service that are hard to replicate. However, many veterans-turned-collegiate-athletes have vocalized how the college team atmosphere can mirror the military environment.
Athletes of Valor hopes that by providing this service to veterans, more will consider both going to school and graduating, finding the structure of college sports a familiar environment in which to succeed.
The Mission
Around 67% of veterans played high school-level sports, but most assume that by entering the military they forfeited their collegiate athletic eligibility. This is not the case. Under Section 14 of the NCAA Military Service Exemption, a military member’s eligibility is frozen during their term of service, meaning veterans can play collegiate athletics, regardless of age, once their service has ended.
Athletes of Valor challenges veterans to compete at the collegiate level, transferring the skills they’ve gained from their military service and applying them to a new mission.