If you’ve been watching World Cup action, then you know how suddenly a star athlete can suffer from a life-altering injury.
But there’s no “fall on the pitch” at Stand Strong Training Center in Downingtown, Chester County – only the will to get back up.
In September 2014, former Division I third baseman and two-sport, all-state high school athlete Matthew Helm was in a kayaking accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down. Doctors gave him little hope that he would ever walk again, but after two months in the hospital, he devoted himself to outpatient rehabilitation until insurance coverage ran out. That’s when Matthew and his wife Lindsay fully realized the immense void for individuals experiencing life-altering injuries to continue with their recovery, health and fitness.
As lifelong athletes, they developed a passion for adaptive strength training and formed Stand Strong Training Inc. in 2017, as a Subchapter S-corporation. Six years later, as the lease on their existing space was nearing expiration, they purchased a property on Bell Tavern Boulevard where they could gain 1,000 square feet of additional class, strength training and coaching space at a high-profile location. But how to pay for it?
Partnering with First Resource Bank and Seedcopa, Lindsay learned that as the majority owner, she would be an ideal candidate for the SBA’s public policy goal of expanding women-owned businesses. A graduate of Cornell University where she rowed on Division I crew and went on to earn two masters degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, she was already a life-long athlete who trained coaches around the world in Academic Life Coaching, Wellness Coaching, and Mindset Coaching, as well as a coach for the SEAL Future Foundation. Now she’s a business owner with a below-market interest rate on financing. That’s a win in everybody’s book.
Today, Stand Strong Training Center not only provides customized, one-on-one adaptive athlete training, it also assists with adult fitness and weight loss as well as age-appropriate, comprehensive student athlete training programs.
“Purchasing a building and navigating SBA financing is no small task, but Seedcopa made the process feel clear and manageable,” said Stand Strong owner Lindsay Helm. “They were responsive, patient and thorough every step of the way, and we always felt supported when questions came up.”
