Sand Blasters Snowshoeing Team

02/14/2026

Many thanks to Sports 4 Exceptional Athletes for inviting our Sand Blasters Snowshoeing Team to compete in Winter Games in Mission Bay again this year!
We had a great time cheering on all of the athletes during their races and when receiving their medals!
The extra snowshoeing events were hilarious and encouraged our athletes to get creative with their snowshoeing skills!
We’re so proud of our team and thankful to S4EA for such a fun day!

12/16/2023

Here are pictures from last weekend and today of the Sand Blasters conquering small and large berms!

They also had time to mingle with Surfing Santa and an Elf this morning!!! 🎄😎❤️

10/10/2023

We are excited to announce that the 22nd season of our Sand Blasters practices will begin on Saturday, October 21st, 2023!

We’ll be on the sand in Hermosa Beach from 9:00-10:30 am and welcome you to join us!

Our Team was created 22 years ago by two moms of young men who have Down syndrome. We wanted to create an opportunity for our sons and other people with intellectual/developmental disabilities to learn a winter sport. Both moms/coaches became Certified in coaching the sport of Snowshoeing to people with special needs.

Our Team has extra pairs of Snowshoes that you can borrow and there are no fees during our practice season except for parking in the public lot.

We will practice just about every Saturday on the sand in preparation of competing against other SoCal Teams in the snow during Winter Games which will be held in early February!

The Winter Games competition is organized by a terrific organization: Sports 4 Exceptional Athletes (S4EA) and it will be held for three fun filled days of competition at Cedar Lake Camp outside of Big Bear!

Our Motto is: If you can walk,
you can Snowshoe!

If you would like more information, please email Coach Kerry at:
[email protected]

12/18/2022

Here are pictures from a few weeks of practices highlighting the skill, determination, hard work and fun that all of us on our Sand Blasters Team have while practicing!!! Many thanks to all that contributed photos with the super great shots taken by Agnes Gonzalez!

We average just over 2 miles every practice and today we went 2.77 miles! Our athletes are building up their endurance weekly!
Go Sand Blasters!!!

11/20/2022

11/20/2022

Our Team continues to work hard at every practice! Great job Team!!!

10/29/2022

Here is a video of the remote control surfer! 😂🏄‍♂️🤣

10/29/2022

We had a relaxed practice this morning and explored the beach by heading south before turning towards the pier. Just two athletes and none of us wore snowshoes today! We came across a man with a remote control surfer 🏄‍♂️ that would wipe out and pop back up to catch and ride the waves! We all found it quite entertaining!

We met Lisa, Elijah and Claudia as we were about to head to our cars. We hope you join us next week or any Saturday! We meet in the parking lot at 9:00 and I’ll have extra pairs of snowshoes for all of you!
Feel free to email me at: kerry.ryerson@gmail for more info!

10/29/2022

The Sand Blasters held the first practice of their 21st Season last Saturday! Three of our athletes participated and they all looked stronger than ever when racing under the pier!
Blair - at the tender age of 71 - power walked with great determination! He is amazing!
Check out the Sand Blasters video!

02/24/2022

A few of us Sand Blasters ventured out late Saturday afternoon for a mile long stroll along the surf. We headed north to our favorite haunt, La Playita, where we met up with other members of our Team! After a fantastic dinner and super fun get together, we strolled back to our cars while the sunset provided a gorgeous and constantly changing backdrop!

We hope to arrange another Sunset Stroll when more members of our Team can join us!

Our next season will begin October 15 at our perfect practice venue - Hermosa Beach!