Created with the goal of bringing people together, Special Olympics Unified Sports teams have more than half a million participants worldwide who work together to break down stereotypes about people with intellectual disabilities. Unified Sports joins athletes both with and without intellectual disabilities on the same team to promote social inclusion through shared training and competition exercises with the principle that training and playing together is the quickest path to friendship and understanding.
The All Star team will be coached by David Dore (Homewood Flossmoor High School), Kelly O’Reilly (School District 54), Paul Caldwell (Chicago Fire) and Caleb Steffens (Chicago Fire), with support from Jessica Yavitz (Chicago Fire) and Jennifer Marcello (Special Olympics Illinois).
The Chicago Fire Unified Soccer All-Star Team will practice monthly at Fire training facilities. They will also travel with the Chicago Fire to play a road game in addition to hosting a match in Chicago. The game schedule includes:
Saturday, June 17 at New England Revolution (Gillette Stadium – Foxborough, MA)
Saturday, Aug. 5 vs. New England Revolution (Toyota Park – Bridgeview, IL)
Team Bios
Athletes
- Guillermo Antolin – Thornton High School
- Sam Devereux – Hoffman Estates High School
- Mark Jerabek – District 204 Alumni Eagles
- Thomas Kuhn – Metea Valley High School
- Ryan McDonough – District 204 Alumni Eagles
- Billy Pierce – District 204 Alumni Eagles
- Daequan Wilson – Homewood-Flossmoor High School.
Unified Partners
- Ethan Harvey – DVSA
- Cori Hoekstra – Homewood-Flossmoor High School
- Jared Hoekstra – Homewood-Flossmoor High School
- Colin Iverson – DVSA
- Kaileen Phillips – Kankakee High School
- Lluvia Ramirez – Kankakee High School