Two members of the Chicago Fire Unified Soccer All-Star Team have been selected to represent the Fire in the MLS WORKS/Special Olympics Unified Sports All-Star Soccer game at Avaya Stadium on July 26 as part of the festivities surrounding the 2016 AT&T MLS All-Star game.
Ethan Harvey of DuPage Valley and District 204 alumnus Mark Jerabek were selected to take part in the game which will take place immediately following the MLS All-Star open training. 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.
Through the Unified Sports program, Unified teams from MLS markets travel to take on other MLS teams in exhibition matches with their Special Olympics counterparts. On July 16, the Chicago Fire Unified All-Stars challenged the FC Dallas Special Olympics team at Toyota Stadium immediately following the first team game.
In a doubleheader on Sunday, Aug. 14, the Chicago Fire first team will take on Orlando City SC at Toyota Park at 3 p.m. CT. The Special Olympics Unified match between the Fire and Orlando will take place immediately after.
