LI Para-Athlete Inspires, From National Soccer Team To Triathlon

BAY SHORE, NY —Robert Rodriguez can give Michael Jordan a run for his multi-sport money: the Bay Shore resident has played on the national level in not one but three sports: basketball, soccer and now triathlon. The para-athlete lost his leg as a child and has been breaking down barriers in sports and life ever since.

Rodriguez tells Patch that he's been an athlete his whole life, growing up playing on recreational leagues with able-bodied kids. There were times his prosthetic device would break and he'd have to overcome what he said were embarrassing moments that hurt his self-confidence.

"But those difficult experiences all led me to where I am now," he says.

He began playing basketball on the world's first standing amputee team (as opposed to wheelchair teams) that played against able-bodied athletes during NBA half times. On a whim he tried out for the USA Amputee Soccer Team and made the team.

After playing for years with the team including in the World Cup, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and Rodriguez found himself with no games or training to keep him active. He decided to try a brand new sport—triathlon—and less than a year later he's competing on a national level.

Juggling the daily training schedule isn't easy, he told Patch, considering his many responsibilities as a husband, father and public speaker and with a full-time job. He credits a supportive wife, time management and sticking to a schedule. But coming from national level training in soccer helped him ramp up in a new sport quickly, he said.

"It's the mental aspect of competing at a high level and it's also just hard work: eight, nine months of training every single day," he said.

Rodriguez qualified for the US Paratriathlon National Championships in California last week where he swam 750 meters, biked 12 miles and ran a 5K. He now has his sights set on qualifying for the Paris Olympics in 2024. If he makes it his accomplishment could mean a lot to a lot of people: Rodriguez says young people tell him he inspires them for many reasons. Some are able-bodied and relate to his message of overcoming a broken home as a child. There has not yet been an American triathlete of color to qualify for an Olympic games—Rodriquez is half Black and half Puerto Rican.

And in his full-time job working with a prosthetic company helping children and adults get fitted for prosthetic limbs, Rodriquez is a constant positive example. They know him as a soccer player, as a basketball player, or from when he competed in Spartan races or appeared on an episode of American Ninja Warrior.

"I'm there helping them right after amputation, after they get home from the hospital. They tell me constantly seeing me push limits help them mentally. Some are struggling with suicidal thoughts. It's bigger than me: I am just being used to show people what's possible."

"I feel honored," he says.

"It doesn't matter what happens to us. It's what we do with it."