Honolua Bay 2012 by Matt Schweitzer (Schweitzer Sports).

Thanks to Randy Weiss I was the Athlete of the Month on Presidio Sports. Click here to view the full article.

This was at the San Diego Triathlon Challenge, I was representing Team PossAbilities and ended up doing their Winter Newsletter Cover! Cool stuff! To see the whole Newsletter, click here.

Amazing event, I recommend to everyone to go down to La Jolla Cove at least once in their lifetime to check this amazing event. Around 125 challenged athletes and over 500 able bodied athletes were part of it. Just mind blowing, emotional stuff. I was fifth out of the water on the challenged athletes division! Big thanks to the entity I was representing, Team PossAbilities (www.teampossabilities.org). Here’s some pictures of that memorable day:

Backyard Bowls is amazing. They were key in my recovery, I think I’m the only person on Earth that would get home delivery bowls!! Pete and Dan would drop by every single day when I got back home from the hospital. They’re amazing people, and continue to support me ever since, I’m now a “sponsored athlete”, very proud of that! This commercial from YouTube is now on local tv, and it’s legendary because we did it when I still had my leg! It has cool people, and even my brother Diego, who has a special Acai Bowl named after him! If you’re in the Santa Barbara area, you should definitely try this place, they’re in 3 locations, just be aware – it is addicting! Check it out at www.backyardbowls.com

Reef and Run a memorable event
By SEAN LEWIS NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT

August 24, 2011 6:19 AM

Success cannot be constrained simply to finishing first. Although this understanding of what it means to succeed is occasionally blurred in the pursuit for greatness, the truly beautiful thing about sports is that an athlete’s personal success is shared by those who witness.

There were many who witnessed Andre Barbieri’s success in Tuesday’s Reef and Run, as he emerged victorious from the water at East Beach in second place for the one-mile swim.

He was greeted with a round of applause and congratulations from friends and strangers, as a friend handed him his crutches so that he could cross the finish line on his own. The 30-year old Santa Barbara resident lost his left leg above the knee in March after a near-fatal snowboarding injury, but his spirit clearly remained intact.

“You can either quit, or just keep doing it while you can,” Barbieri said. “It’s up to you, and I chose to continue.”

Barbieri, who finished the course in 22:17 behind first-place finisher Devin Dierenfield (17:34), was invited by members of the Challenged Athletes Foundation to take part in his first-ever ocean swim. The Brazil native is no stranger to the ocean, as he surfed before his injury and continues to do so, but had never swam in an open-water race.

“Well, my main thing is surfing and I’m just happy to be able to surf,” he said. “It’s not the same as it was, but I can still do it, so I’m happy to do it. I am branching out here swimming in the ocean. Who knows, perhaps I can try some other stuff.”

Along with trying new athletic events, Barbieri, who dreams of competing in the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, has found himself in a new and unfamiliar role – that of an inspirational leader. He could barely suppress a large smile as the crowds cheered for him on Tuesday.

“It feels awesome. It’s something that I never had before,” Barbieri said. “It’s something to live for. It’s beautiful.”

I started swimming back in my hometown Lajeado and they invited me to do this contest, I said yes. It was a lot of fun, and people thought I was just participating but I gave everyone in the water a hard time! Almost made the podium on the 50 meters, and then I got third on the 400 meters and our team got first on the 4 X 25 meters! It was very emotional, I had good support from friends and family and it gave me a nice confidence boost. It’s a nice shot of adrenaline when you’re about to jump off the diving board into the water, knowing everyone around you wants to beat you!

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Hello my good friends, I’m back! After 2 months well spent in my homeland, I’m back to my second home – Santa Barbara. I had a lot of fun and took care of business while down there, came back with a new leg (!!!!!), thanks to EVERYONE. Very soon I’ll show the leg, but before, I’ll tell you about some of my adventures down there, like my first time back in the water. It was memorable, just to be alive and able to go out again, with some of my best friends is priceless. This was my first time bobyboarding also, and it wasn’t easy, specially because I was far from being fit. After a few days it got easier. Finally, after a week or so I tried surfing on a soft board, 4 months after my injury. I was holding my two hands on the rails, and the back foot on top of the board. It was frustrating at first, compared to what I was used to – but hey, I CAN STILL SURF!! It will get better eventually, and I can still have fun. Special thanks to Jardel, who was with me helping every minute and who is a cancer survivor – he fought hard and won!