'It Was A Miracle', How Surfing Helped A Boy Learn To Walk

Over the years Cisco has helped over 40,000 students, free of charge, and has helped innovate equipment and technique for adaptive athletes around the world. Cisco didn’t start with any accreditation or formal education aside from his own surf experience but has since studied Physical Education, developed proper methodology, write a book, and train countless people. 

“Among the coolest cases, among all these cases that led me to go to school, was the case of two people, a blind man who stayed with me for 10 years. Then, a boy with cerebral palsy, Dots, came to me with no hope from the doctors when he was nine years old, in a wheelchair with his mother. He lived in the outskirts and was very poor, and he was referred to us by a therapist."

"He couldn't walk, he couldn't look, he had no facial expression, no mobility. After ten months of work at the school, surfing, visual stimuli, stimuli of love, he started walking, he got up from the wheelchair and started walking. It was a miracle and it's an incredible story, because if there's one thing I'm going to tell you, love can do everything. So in our school we guide by intuition and love, we're not in school to make money or to build up our ego."

His work earned Santos the title of “Inclusive Surfing City” in 2024 and international recognition as a Global Ambassador for the World Surf Cities Network (WSCN). The schools, now part of the city’s intangible and cultural heritage, are a global reference in public-private management, sponsored by Blue Med Saúde (a Brazilian health insurer).

In addition, Cisco is the creator of the “Dreaming About the Waves” project, which has already donated more than 80 adaptive surfboards around the world. His career as a professional surfer, shaper and physical educator has made him an icon of sport and inclusion.

Cisco also specializes in teaching those who are over 50 with a weekly class that regularly hosts people over 120 people as a tool to improve people's quality of life, something he views as very helpful for older people who have suffered loneliness and depression in the world after the pandemic.

Of all the wonderful stories we hear about surfers doing what they can to be forces for good in the world, Cisco stands out for his incredible passion, humility, resilience and community spirit. His dedication to promoting inclusion and well-being reflects his values ​​of equality and respect and his work as an educator is an outstanding example of his ability to transform challenges into opportunities and positively impact the lives of thousands.

Obrigado Cisco e parabéns!