Colorado Rapids Announce 2020 Special Olympics Roster and Schedule

Published on June 25, 2020 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Colorado Rapids News Release

Colorado Rapids Soccer Club announced today the 2020 Special Olympics roster and its participation in Unified We Play Competition initiative with MLS WORKS and Special Olympics.

This season will mark the ninth consecutive year where the Colorado Rapids and Special Olympics Colorado have partnered to form a team. The unified team, which is made up of players both with and without intellectual disabilities between the ages of 16 and 25, are students from Smoky Hill High School in Aurora. The 2020 squad will participate in the Unified We Play Competition.

Unified We Play Competition:

The Unified We Play Competition is a five-week virtual soccer competition starting Monday, June 29 and going until Friday, July 31 with the winner being announced the week of August 3. There are seven MLS clubs participating alongside the Rapids: Atlanta United, Houston Dynamo, New England Revolution, NYCFC, New York Red Bulls, Real Salt Lake and Sporting Kansas City.

The competition is designed to provide a fun, inclusive and unique competition for MLS Unified Teams, who traditionally travel to play exchange matches inside MLS stadiums however will be unable to enjoy those experiences this year due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Colorado Rapids Unified 2019 Roster:

Aidan Bacheller, Michelle Calderon, Elijiah Ellis-James, Preston Elsberry, Luis Escobar, Rene Garcia, Lauryn Gardner, Diego Hernandez, Malakye Johnson, Nico Keables, Jireh Lopez, Maggie Power, Zech Steinmetz, Zachary Taravella, Danny Trout, Gage Wells, and John Wognum.

Coaches:

Head coach: Kelton Coppinger

Assistant coaches: Kersten Mullen, Gabriella Munguia

Colorado Rapids Unified 2019 Season Schedule:

Week Opponent

Week 1 Colorado Rapids Unified vs Houston Dynamo Unified

Week 2 Colorado Rapids Unified vs Sporting Kansas City Unified

Week 3 Colorado Rapids Unified vs Real Salt Lake Unified

Week 4 Colorado Rapids Unified vs New England Revolution Unified

Week 5 Colorado Rapids Unified vs New York Red Bulls Unified

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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