Gene Santoro has had an interesting life and is staying active through the growing sport of pickleball.
Born in Cleto in Italy’s Calabria region, Santoro moved to Canada with his family in the early 1950s.
An elementary school teacher in Sault Ste. Marie for 31 years, Santoro is also well known for his many years of work as a wedding photographer.
These days, he’s known for being one of the more familiar faces on the Sault’s pickleball scene, currently serving as Soo Pickleball vice president.
“I was a real avid squash player. I played squash just about every day at the YMCA and one day my buddy didn’t show up. I saw some activity in the gym so I looked in there and I remember seeing about eight people playing this strange game I’d never seen before,” Santoro told SooToday about his introduction to pickleball.
“I watched them for a while and they said ‘do you want to play?’ I said ‘I don’t have a paddle’ and they said ‘we’ll lend you one’ and I said sure. That’s how I started playing.”
That was in early 2015.
“I converted to pickleball from squash and have been playing it ever since,” he said.
A small group of Snowbirds had been introduced to the sport in Florida and brought it back to the Sault.
“I have to give Linda Marasco (Soo Pickleball president) credit. She took the vision of a lot of us and moved it forward. She had the organizational skills and the drive and was able to put Soo Pickleball together,” Santoro said.
“It’s taken off tremendously. We now have 600 registered members with Soo Pickleball.”
Soo Pickleball officially became a recognized affiliated club of Pickleball Canada and Pickleball Ontario in 2021.
“I mentioned to my son in Kitchener that I started playing pickleball and he said his boss played it so I went down there and we played together. He said ‘do you want to play in a tournament with me?’ and I said yes.”
That tournament was in 2015 in Waterloo.
Since then Santoro has played in many tournaments and won six medals, including a gold medal in men’s doubles and a silver in mixed doubles (in the 60 and over age group) at the Annual Great Lakes Open Pickleball Tournament in Traverse City, Michigan in 2018.
Pickleball is like tennis but played on a court a quarter of the size of a tennis court.
It can be played by singles or doubles, including mixed doubles.
“I would describe pickleball as a scaled down version of tennis, or ping pong on steroids,” Santoro chuckled while speaking to SooToday about the sport in 2018.
“It’s basically like tennis. The strokes are basically the same, you use the same kind of motions, you have your backhand and your forehand, you have to cover the court like you do in tennis, you have the net. The biggest difference is the size of the court and the type of ball you’re using.”
“You use something like a ping pong paddle but it’s a little bigger, about twice the size in length. The ball we use is the same size as a tennis ball, but it’s got holes in it like a practice golf ball. The court is 42 feet long, it’s the same size as a badminton court,” Santoro said.
Originally considered as a sport for seniors, younger people are starting to pick up pickleball paddles.
“A lot of younger people are getting involved. It’s growing both from the young end and with the retired older people. It’s so social and you can play it at any level.”
“The younger people that are coming in are just phenomenal. They have hand-eye coordination, they’re fast, they have good reflexes. They’re getting younger and younger because they realize that once you play the sport that it’s a really fast sport in a sense. The court is small. It can be fast depending on the level you want to play at,” Santoro said.
In the summer months Santoro and his fellow Soo Pickleball players enjoy playing the sport at several outdoor facilities.
Eight new pickleball courts were built at the Elliott Sports Complex in 2021.
Finding enough indoor courts is a challenge in the winter months, Santoro said.
There are courts available at the Sault Ste. Marie YMCA, the George Leach Centre and the Tech Complex but Santoro said “we have different levels and different categories so about a maximum of 20 people get to play for a two hour stretch.”
The need for more indoor courts aside, Santoro said it’s been gratifying to watch the sport grow in the Sault.
“It’s been a wonderful journey. I’ve seen it go from eight people at the YMCA to 25 players waiting to get two courts at the Y.”
“I enjoy it because of the social aspect. I’m not there exercising by myself. I enjoy it because there’s a lot of interaction and activity to it. The court’s smaller so you’re hitting the ball a lot more times than you would in other sports.”
“I enjoy it because my whole body’s getting exercise. It’s not just my arms or legs. I’m twisting, bending, stretching, I’m reaching, my whole body gets exercise and the social aspect is wonderful,” Santoro said.