Special Olympics Soccer Team Issaquah Spirit to Represent WA State at Summer 2018 USA Games

Coach Mike Quinn is Northwest Center VP of Business Development

Northwest Center is proud to announce that the Issaquah Spirit, a Special Olympics soccer team coached by Northwest Center VP of Business Development Mike Quinn, has been selected to represent Washington State at the summer 2018 Special Olympics USA Games, July 1-6, 2018 in Seattle.

The announcement was made at halftime of the December 1 Seattle Sounders playoff game, where the Issaquah Spirit took the field to cheers and applause.
 
“Our players worked so hard to win the gold at state games this year,” says Quinn. “We are honored to be representing Washington in the Summer 2018 USA Games, and it’s an honor they’ve truly earned.”
 
Quinn has been the coach of the Issaquah Spirit since 2015. He has spent nine years in his role at Northwest Center, a Seattle nonprofit that since 1965 has championed education and employment opportunites throughout Puget Sound for people of all developmental and cognitive abilities.
 
“Playing sports and finding employment are a natural fit for people with disabilities,” Quinn says. He notes that a recent Harris Interactive® survey, “Sports and Employment among Americans with Disabilities,” found that people with disabilities who participated in sports were twice as likely to be employed as adults.
 
“Sports build teamwork, social skills, and confidence,” Quinn says. “All traits that are a great foundation for success in the working world.”
 
Northwest Center services include:

​NICU-to-Home: support from our Early Intervention team for families with prematurely born babies making the transition to home

• Early Intervention: therapy at home or in the community for children from birth to age 3 who have developmental disabilities or delays.
• Early Learning: inclusive classrooms where children with and without disabilities learn and play together
• School-to-Work: employment support for students with developmental and other disabilities as they graduate from high school
• Employment Services: job placement for adults of all abilities at 100+ companies across Washington State