By Claudia Loucks
Geneseo Current

In their first ever Special Olympics of Illinois event, Inspire Continuing Care athletes earned medals in their respective division in competition held Oct. 1 at Highland Park Bowl in Moline.

The medalists are Rachel R. and Daniel R., gold medalist; Diana B. and Jacob M., silver medalists; and Christian L., bronze medalist.

The gold medalists will advance to sectional completion on Nov. 5 at the Quad Cities Family Entertainment Center.

Jenn Johnson, director of ICC, said, “ICCC is excited to be a newly-formed Adult Special Olympics agency for qualifying adult athletes in the Geneseo area and will continue recruiting volunteer coaches form the community for upcoming sports..”
Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer coach, or any qualified adult interested in participating as an athlete is asked to contact ICC by email at inspirecontinuingcare@gmail.com or text/call 309-714-8647.

“Special thanks to our bowling coach, Denny Lynch, for working with our athletes to prepare them for competition,” Johnson said. “Additional thanks to Arcadia Family Fun Center in Geneseo for hosting practices for Inspire Continuing Care bowlers.”

ICC, which was founded by Johnson, opened its doors in August of 2021. The daytime community program is for young adults that have aged out of special education or graduated from high school – Inspire Continuing Care is held in The Victory Center, (The Vic building) at 218 South State St. in Geneseo, and is open from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday year round.

The young adults who attend ICC must be at least 18 years of age and have completed four years of traditional high school.