Matt Benoit spent 4 years in the Army before separating as a Specialist while living the DC area. He transitioned to contractor life in the intelligence community while working at Defense Threat Reduction Agency and learning more about the global geopolitical relations and the implications of adversary nation states’ large-scale decisions. He enjoyed this work but knew he wanted more, so he got his MBA and followed that up with the Project Management Professional Certificate, which allowed him to transition to the project management space. Throughout his time in the DC area, he found that his colleagues were great for work but weren’t able to provide the steady social support he needed outside of work in order to push himself correctly. Matt was a 3-season athlete throughout high school and decided sports would be the best place to look for that support and that’s when he found the Heroes Athletic Association. Being part of the team and meeting each week, sometimes multiple times across different leagues, gave him that connection he was looking for outside of the contracting world.
“Transitioning from being a Service Member to ‘just another working dude’ wasn’t a smooth process and finding new friends as an adult was an even les smooth process. Organizations that Heroes Athletic Association supports provided that the new connections through a new sense of comraderie and friendship. I needed people in my life that went through the same or similar process I went through and was able to find the support I needed and we won a couple season championships along the way. I can’t thank HAA enough for existing and I can’t thank the people I met on each of the teams enough for their valuable help with navigating the ‘real world.’”