Ricky Santo, Part 2

Thank you for tuning in. I'm Greg. I'm Mike. And we are the Pickleballers Next Door. We are for the Joes and not the pros. Your court, our court. Thanks for tuning in to part two of Ricky Santo and his incredible story. I moved in with that family. So this was before the cancer again, I kind of hopping around, but they asked me to to move in with them. I just just through CSU met them. It's community. So there were a donor there said, Hey, so I get to go live in this amazing, amazing house. Like when I say amazing, I had a movie theater down there, a weight room down there, my own bedroom. And there was another bedroom or across the way and had a bar area and had a ping pong table, ping pong and tennis for my passion growing up. So outside of football and baseball along with baseball. So then we are. I move this family again, 80, Larry, and then they have three kids, Whitney, Jacob and Derek. Again, I was the only child. So these three really became my my my family. Right. So reverting back again, jumping around. That was right before the stem cell transplant that I move in there. OK, yeah. So I'm a part of it with them. Incredible to learn with them, be almost a brother or sister, a brother and sister, have a brother and sister type person and growing a family. So I live with them for 30 days until I go to stem cell transplant. They're checking up on me. I can finish the stem cell transplant. Good to go. You know, radiation is going to start kicking in. I'll get my own place there. Larry, Larry Buckendorf calls me, Rick, where are you going to live when you come back? Oh, Buck, I'll figure something out. You know, he goes, you're moving back in here. So sure enough, I'm going back in there. I'm not, you know, again, weight room theater. I'm good. So I moved back in there and. Awesome, awesome, again, living that family atmosphere without with brothers and sisters. Again, I was raised in a tight family with my parents. So then. You know, one one month, at least another month, at least another month as I'm coaching at CSU three and a half years later. That's how it goes, right? Watching these kids grow up and again, but they were welcoming and it was just going through what I was at that time with the radiations and then beating that. It was about a year that I was going through cancer. I live with them. And then once I beat it, they still want to be there for me. So again, that's that community and support and that love that people offer and share. That's why I give back as much as I can because of that. Right. So so with that. Covid hits and I'm living in this great country club now. Now the secret's out that I'm living in a nice house. There's pickleball courts. Like what are these people doing out there? I've never heard of pickleball. There's tennis courts. What is this pickleball? So I get the opportunity to go play pickleball out there one day. Fell in love the first time I played. Oh, we know what happens. And it was only single. So I fell in love with singles. So again, coaching at the time, I still at CSU. I coach some incredible players, but they're going through covid. So classes are canceled. Football practices are abbreviated or turned. Who knows what time of day they're doing it? Right. So Trey McBride, who was one of my. Along with many others, favorite players to ever coach or be a part of to just get to know what was a part of there. And I told him about this game and we would compete at everything. Again, Trey and I have that competitive fire. We're like the same person in that sense. So introducing the pickleball, we start playing again. His classes are online or kind of mixed around. So we played every day for four months straight. Like, yeah, this was singles. I fell in love with singles. Wow. So still learning doubles, trying to get back to it. But it was good because a good cardio, you know, I like to like I didn't really maybe I didn't like love pickleball that I just love getting exercise. And again, going through the journey I had was coming out on the other end, being able to compete and do something and play with young kids still, you know, any age. It's a generational experience. So, again, Trey and I played that whole time and then awesome. Love it. Then Trey goes on to, you know, do great things in football in our season. And then I was out of football at that time, but then decided to get back into it. So kind of a weird timeline, but then get back into football. Coach Adazio, love it. Coach Trey again. And then life happens. So September or August 26th, you know, during the middle of COVID playing pickleball every day, loving it. You know, I haven't been dating anybody, but I decided, you know, play these, you know, only chance I have is going to a bar and meeting somebody. But now everybody wants to do it online hinge or this or that. What are we talking about? But I was fortunate enough that on one of those one day I connected with a young lady and we FaceTime that night. She was beautiful, had the kindest heart again, was very community oriented. And I said, I've got to meet this young lady. So we met that next night. We went to a bar, enjoyed it. It was awesome. Like she, there was just a fire. I knew it was, I wanted her to be my forever. I didn't know if she wanted that, but anyways, did that. Turns out we ended up spending every day since then together. So she became my wife, my wife, Melissa Santo, who is the absolute rock star of my life. She is a, she is my world. So at this point, at that point and still now. So then we started doing that. And again, getting back into coaching. I, again, a hundred hour weeks to grind. I'm fine with it. You know, but most of that, understand that. So that's end of 2020 that I met her August 26th. Then we start, she was in the, in the process of fostering just to get the certification. I'm like, okay, you know, that's cool. Like I was told in my cancer journey, 99.9%, you'll never have kids. There's no way just because of all the chemo, all the radiation, no chance. So, so, you know, I understood you accept that, but I still have a great partner next to me that we might be able to raise our own, our own daughter or son through, through foster care. Right? So we're just hanging out. Melissa and I are having the time of our life. We've played pickleball probably every other day. She's a teacher again, back to that best math teacher in America. She is the best math teacher in America. And she, she probably won't tell you that, but I will tell you, she is the, an absolute rock star. So when I said earlier about the math teacher, maybe thinking I was so great, Melissa, you are an absolute rock star at this amazing. So then with that, uh, we started again, playing pick ball every other day, doing what we do. I'm working at football. She's still teaching and we get a call 11 o'clock one night. This would be January 26th of 2021. We answered the call. You know, we don't know who's going to call us at 11 o'clock at night. Hey, uh, Melissa Santo. Uh, this is whoever from Weld County. Uh, we have a placement for you. It'll be two kids. What? Uh, okay. So we take a placement for our foster care, Luna and James come to our house again. They get there about 1. P.m. James is wearing, uh, a t-shirt or no, no, no, sorry. James is wearing a diaper, eight years old, wearing a diaper, no shirt. Luna walks in wearing her brother's shirt, no diaper. We're like, okay, does she have pants on? She did not have pants on. Interesting. Yeah, it was, it was, I don't quote me on that, but I, that's yeah. It was, it was, yeah, it was, uh, they were just basically sharing clothes, sharing clothes, more or less, or just had to get them out of whatever. We didn't know anything about the situation. We just said, please, we would love to help these kids. So it turns out James was non-verbal at eight. Couldn't, didn't know how to use the restroom, still wearing the diaper. Turned out I had a lot of other things that were going on, but we, we were loved him. So we focused all our energy on him, not thinking about Luna. So in loving James, we kind of lost sight of, of Luna. But again, two weeks with James, we realized it was too much for our first placement. You know, they always want to keep siblings together, but they don't even know each other. Couldn't communicate because Luna didn't talk either. So James gets rehomed. We keep Luna, take her to the doctor. She's, she's malnourished, all of this. So we had to help her get through that like whole bunch of stuff. But now it's my, my wife and Luna and I, and, and life is so good again, non-verbal, but we have, we have a kid, a goal that we both wanted that probably was never going to happen because of my cancer journey. So we start loving Luna, showing her love, and she starts changing. She's growing. Just when you show somebody love, that community love, it grows the, uh, they can grow. So then from there, we, uh, one day we're watching football, it's February 14th. So we've had her for about a little over maybe 18 days at this point. We're watching football. Melissa goes, are you going to help her? I'm like, what are you talking about? She's like, she's choking. I'm like, what? So I go over there and look, okay, she's choking on a ball. So me with all the experiences I've been through in my life, health wise, I'm, I stay kind of calm. Melissa's, you know, getting a little frantic, but she goes over and I'm like, Melissa, I can't get it. Can you come help? So she comes over and helps and can't get it out. So I'm like, well, I'm calling 9-1-1. I call 9-1-1. Hello. We have our daughter. She's, uh, two years old. She's choking on a ball. Okay. We'll have somebody there. Seven minutes, seven minutes. So she's still choking. He's like, I'm gonna stay on the phone with you. So I keep talking to him, like good conversations. He, Melissa's trying to get the ball out. Nothing happened. He's like, we're going to have to start CPR, CPR, but take her to the front door. So Melissa walks Luna to the front door. I walk behind him, still talking to the gentleman on the phone. Melissa's starting to cry, getting anxious. Cause Luna is turning red, if not almost purple at this point. Cause the ball is, is, is lodged in her throat. So we're, I'm on the phone. Melissa's doing all she can. And I'm like talking to the gentleman on the phone. I'm like, Hey, she's turning purple. He's like, just keep doing the process. Pump, pump. You want me to count? We'll do it together. I'm like, okay, well, uh, cool. Well, how far away? They're about two minutes away, two minutes away. Okay, cool. I look back. Luna is, is faint, basically purple faint. And I'm like, are you, you know, are you okay? Melissa's got, she's spitting up blood, all of this at the same time. It's gotta be the longest two minutes, longest ever. So she's like 30 seconds. She'll just be out, not moving limp. Then Melissa would pump her chest. She'd wake up, then give her a CPR and whatever. We didn't know what was working. We were just doing what he told us. And then I told the gentleman on the phone, I'm like, sir, I'm sorry. I think she's dead about my, our daughter. So I've always wanted a daughter, always wanted a son. And now somebody in my care is going to, you know, but I'm still calm. Police come take me into the room. Emergency team comes. There's about nine people that come in again, community. They came to save our daughter's life. We go another room. They ask us questions. They're still trying to save Luna's life. They can't get the ball out. You know, they can't find a heartbeat. They say she's not breathing on her own. We're like, what the heck? Like, I'm hearing this. Melissa's panicking. I was calm. So I look over Melissa's like, is she okay? I look over her legs, like straight purple, not moving. And I'm like, yeah, she's okay. Melissa, you know, like, don't worry. Melissa's crying hysterically. So then next thing you hear like, oh, we got the ball out. We got the ball out, but we can't find a heartbeat. So they were about to put the shockers to her or put something through her throat. But again, you don't want to do that to a two-year-old. So gratefully, the heartbeat came back to, they took her to the hospital and started doing all the tests, all the blood work. And again, they took her in the ER. Melissa went to an ambulance, took Melissa with her. I stayed back and then went and met them. She's strapped up to all these tubes at the hospital, which is what happens. And again, I was calm because of the experiences. All the stuff that you've been through. And the community sort that has happened in my life. So go there. And then they said, well, you got to go to Southern Hospital. You got to go down to Ann Schuetz where the childcare is. So we drive down there. We had to follow 45 minutes behind them. We're like, what did we do wrong? We're blaming ourselves. But really it came down to, you know, just we did all we could at this point. So then we do that and get down there. And now timeline, it's kind of messed up. But that next day was February 15th. I was starting back at CSU. So kind of weird. And then that new role with coach Adazio. So it's weird how that all worked out. But get down there, stays the night in the hospital. And we stay with her. I have to wake up the next morning, start my new job. Melissa's like, it's fine. I'll be with her, stay with her, come back. Again, kids are resilient. She's sitting up the next day. So, you know, they're still have a feeding two, four. Then I go back to work the next day. She comes back. Luna's walking around the room. She's back to normal. So crazy. Two and a half days in the hospital. So again, but am I, are we supposed to be parents? Who knows? One thing leads to another, started a new job, loving it. I come home one day, it's middle of March. Melissa goes, Hey, I got a surprise for you. She does a scavenger hunt. I love doing scavenger hunts for my kids or wives and birthday presents. That's again, that's how my parents did it for me growing up. And I like to do it for others. So she takes me on a scavenger hunt. I'm like, what the heck? Like weird. Go to all these places. And the last one's a picture of, again, my friend Zach cranky. This is a picture of him and I, and behind it, I pull this thing out and it's a positive pregnancy test. Oh yeah. I said, what the F and I don't cuss. Yeah. I look at her and my jaw drops. She starts crying. I start crying. We hug. So then we had that happened. And then in July that year, we actually ended up adopting Luna. Then we had our daughter Lakeland in November of that, of 2021. And then, so life was good. We have two kids and that, and in that moment, it was, it was the, the awesomest thing ever. But in having that daughter, I decided to, to step away from football at that time. Okay. You know, a period of time I just needed, I wanted a new start, a new beginning. So I stepped away from football because I had found this news, new sport pickleball that took my heart. I played in my first tournament or event. And I'm like, I want to do this for the rest of my life. Pickleball will do it too. It does. So I was able to go play, have a job in pickleball at this, at the, it was future legends in Northern Colorado and they have 16 outdoor pickleball courts, indoor courts. And it was the dream job. Like I was working with football and baseball as well, but pickleball is what I wanted to get going tournaments and event wise. Okay. Yep. So in doing that, I was there, loved it. And now it was where I wanted to be, but it was taking a while for things to come together. And then guess what? We get pregnant again. We did that. And now with three kids, I needed to step away from that role and I needed to focus on our family. So I stepped away from there, got into another, another career, but pickleball step call kept calling me back. So I meet some people down the road. I mean, I get the opportunity to meet Eli Steiner. I get to meet Kyle Yates. I get to play with, with Eli, get to meet some, some big leaders in the pickleball community. And my, my drive for pickleball is back. That's what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Heck yeah. That's kind of why we're here. That's why we're here. So with that passion, again, I met some, some big leaders in the community, the pickler, which is a great organization that has started in Northern Colorado and now it's spreading all across the state. I was able to meet the leadership of that and some of their team members and people and really inspired me even more with, with pickleball. So I decided to, I always had it in my mind to be a part of it. And these guys were going to give me hopefully the opportunity. And that's what leads us to today where I sit now. I am, I'm looking to, to grow the game of pickleball through two organizations that we've started. The first one is the Colorado Pickleball Association. It's a 501c3 nonprofit organization. And our goal is to make pickleball accessible to the youth of Colorado across the state. And you're saying you want to make, well, you're hoping eventually to make pickleball varsity sport in high school, correct? That is my number one goal. That's where the passion has grown to. I will in the next couple of years, we will make it a varsity sport here in Colorado. Hopefully we can work with chassis to get that certified or work with whoever we need to, or the powers that be it's going to happen. And from there, we're going to develop a path. We want to start in middle school, elementary school. We want to provide them the best products. We want to teach them the sport, playing on the best surfaces, doing all of that to help them be a part of this generational experience. Again, all ages, all genders. It's the only thing where males and females can compete on the same court. So let's do it in high school. No, even size, even size doesn't, size doesn't matter. Size does not matter. Well, for some of us, whatever, dude. Hey, what happened to that? Didn't you get beat by a 12 year old who like barely can see over the net? I want to hear this story. Mike, Mike. But anyways, Colorado Pickleball Association started as just to make, grow the sport of pickleball here in Colorado for everybody. Cause that's the goal. I love where you're going with it. I truly do. So, so with our site, it'll be coloradopickleballassociation.com. You can go on there. It's membership based. Again, we're a nonprofit organization. So all the money is going back to either you for the camps clinics that we're going to put on. You go to our site. There's, um, see all the events that are going on. You can find a club, find a court. We have a great tool on there. We also have a shop product on there and all the product you spend will be at the MSRP price, but you will receive a 30% rebate to use on our site, whether that's for tournaments, for your, for, um, other things you want to purchase. It all goes back to you. This is about the player. So if you buy a one time, you buy another something else. You're always, you're going to always have money in the bank there. Right? Cheers to that. I don't want you guys to beat the system too bad, but that's, that's, you'll never leave the site, man. We're going to do it all. So we're also going to look to host some of the best tournaments through CPA and, and organize that to, to, again, all going back to the community. That money is only for the nonprofit to give back to the youth of Colorado and grow the sport through, through all ages. Amazing. Yes. So with that and doing the tournaments again, back to my passion, I wanted to look to getting into running the biggest or best events in Colorado. And the premier event in Colorado has been the Rocky mountain championship. It has, Don has done an incredible job running that. And with the leadership team that I've been a part of through the CPA that helped me make that dream come true again with the pickler. And then Kyle Yates is a part of that with us and so forth. I decided let's figure out how to Potentially purchase the RMCs. Okay. Kind of had talked to the other leadership about it and they said, well, let's do it. So they approached Don and we were able to make something happen. So we are now the, they are now the proud owners or we are the proud owners of the Rocky mountain pickleball championships. Awesome. Which we're now going to convert to Rocky mountain pickleball championship series. So we're going to have a series of events. I will get to that, but our ownership group, they asked me to, to, to somewhat be a part of it. So I'm going to be a part of it. Somewhat be a part of it. So I have, have, have stepped into that role. And again, I am, I am just the director of event operations, but I am also fortunate enough to be part owner in that as well. But going back to pickleball where my pickleball ground roots started with Trey McBride, I said, he's, he's an all pro tight end now for the Cardinals. I said, let me approach him and see if he'd be interested in being a part of our, our new thing. I'd love, we'd love to get them out here and play calling you out. Trey, Trey has a heart of gold. He will, he will love to be a part of that, but also in that leadership group, we also acquired JP Parker is the part of that guy. Oh, we love this dude. So I'm grateful. One, one hell of a guy. JP connected me with Mike and Greg actually. And JP and I made a right, right out to see both the other day to see an incredible facility out there. Who's run by Jason Harris. The pickleball party is run by Jason Harris. This is a dream out here. So getting back to running these events. Now we're going to incorporate it, you know, build on the great success Don has already had. We have a lot of neat opportunities for players. It's going to be all about the player experience here, whether you're a beginner and eight or mid intermediate or a pro, it's all about you. So we were, we're going to make it about you guys and make it the best experience you can have playing pickleball because it is the championship series. We're going to have other major events as well. We're going to have an event in Steamboat, which I said, we just went to and met Jason Harris, most beautiful indoor 12 indoor courts and eight outdoor courts I've ever seen. So it was a pretty neat thing. We're going to have an event there, a part of the championship series in Steamboat, which will be July 24th to July. Oh geez. July 24th to July 20. Yeah, I got the June. I just have the one that's coming up the most recent, which is June 18th and 22nd. I was seeing if you guys knew what it was. Steamboat will be July 25th through July 27th. Heck yeah. So come be a part of that event. And then in grand junction, we also have an event. Um, the grand mace open that we're going to have September 12th through 14th, but not only we're going to have those events, we're going to have six minor league pick ball events throughout the year and 12 other circuit events. So all these events, here's where the championship series comes in. You're going to earn points at each of these events. So it gives you an opportunity to not only play, you're going to play to a place. So you're not going to finish. Oh, I finished between seventh and 12th. No, you're going to know a place you finish. You're going to get your points for that event. Whether it's a major event, a middle event, or a minor event, you're going to get points and you're going to get to keep track against some of the best players in the state, whether it's the high level and you'll be able to compete against Kyle Yates or these other great players and how many points you can earn and what place you're finishing in each event. So essentially a 3-0 can win the whole series against like Kyle Yates. There it is. Yes. So you're going to win each event and there are going to be separate sections. 5-0, there'll be a pro championship in points and a pro, I mean a 3-5 winner and male, female and all of that. But there's going to be an overall one too, where you can actually compete against the best players in the state. Heck yeah. I like that. Again, and it's all about bringing the community back together. If you can't, community is what my whole life has been around. So my goal with this is to help with our team. We have amazing members that are growing this and have the same passion that I do and almost as much as Greg and Mike do to make it as incredible as possible. So we're excited to work together with all the partners in the area and obviously with you, Mike and Greg, to let's go. Definitely. We're excited. I mean, just a happy part of this. I mean, your energy. Gosh, I just, I thought I had a lot of energy. You make me feel like I'm sleeping. Man, well, I obviously don't stop talking and my voice is raspy, but I get a little passionate. You get me going on pickleball or on football or just people in general. Because again, my number one goal in doing this is to make as many people smile as possible. Yeah, I don't think that's going to be an issue. I don't. Well, here's the thing. You challenged me the other day again to start building my social media. I've challenged myself now. Mm-hmm. So Monday of this week, I decided to 2025 from this point to the end of the year, I'm going to play 2025 pickleball games. Woo. That's a lot of pickleball, baby. Hey, if you average it out and I don't want to interfere with my time with my family. So I'm going to try and do that, but I'm going to be out in the community playing at all courts all across the state. I want to come see everybody that's listening right now out here and play message me on, on, on Instagram. That should be on Facebook. I want to play with you. Follow him on Instagram. Cause he really needs to build that follow again. I'm an amateur as mentioned in the last podcast podcast at tricky T R I C K Y S a N T O. Please give me a follow. We're going to track every match we play. I'm going to come take a picture with you or take a video post on Instagram. We'll we'll Mark what number of games it was. Doesn't matter who wins or loses. I'll keep track of that. My competitive nature, but, but we won't announce that. We'll just have a good time. And again, the goal is to put as many smiles on as many pieces, many people faces. If you need help playing in some of those games, give me a call, man. I'm here. I'm we're I'm ready. Well, we're going today. Actually, we're going, we're going to get his first what five to eight games in today. Here we go. So, so that's, that's my, my passion. Again, it's all, it's all for the pickleball community. That's what I want to do this for. I want to grow the sport through the youth or we want to grow it. I should say through the youth, but also connect with, with everybody, all, all, all genders, all ages, all skill levels. I want to come play with you. It does not matter. All walks of life does not matter. I want to play with you and we will have a great time doing it. So tell me where they can sign up for this RMC that's coming up in June. So Rocky mountain pickleball championship series. If you just Google that, you can find it. It will be on pickleball brackets or now it's pickleball.com log in there. And that's where we're going to run the registrations through. So you'll go there. And again, we're with new leadership. There's going to be a lot of you have played in it. We're going to have a lot of new and different and exciting things. So as we get closer, we'll start announcing that. But right now we're keeping that close to chest, but you guys are going to want to be there, but you could also go to rockymountainpickleball.com. That is our webpage that has all three of those events that I mentioned. You'll also be able to see again, the, the different events we're having, which are even the MILP events or the 12 circuit events. And then the other website, the nonprofit is Colorado pickleballassociation.com. Go in there, email me, text me, call me any questions you have. I'm here for the pickleball players. So let's make this sport even greater than it already is. You're already heading there. I want to thank you for your journey and your, you know, what you've been through and to share that with us. It's incredible. I mean, it gives me chills. I just, and where you sit now and that, and your, your, your agility to go forward. It's incredible. The energy is contagious. It's all about the people. And I appreciate Greg and Mike for first of all, becoming friends of mine very recently, but also providing that energy to give me the energy. Like you guys are the best. And I, I can't wait to partner and do some great things together. Just so you know, they are our official podcasters at the Rocky mountain championship this year. You guys are the first to know, but make sure you stop by their booth. They're going to be right in the center, right in the middle of it. We picked out their spot today and just go shout out. They want to talk to you. Pickleballers next door is the place to be. So please give them a follow. I, every person I talked to about pickleball, I mentioned them. Let's, let's, let's help them grow too. Thank you so much, Ricky. We really appreciate you for being on, sharing your story and we're looking forward to what is to come with you and everything that you have going on, man. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm really excited. I'm pumped. I'm really excited. I can't wait. Can't wait to see everybody on the pickleball court. Go be great. All right. So until next time, thanks for tuning in. We are the pickleballers next door. Have a good night. Are you looking for a pickleball gift for your partner, your mom, your dad, your best buddy. Check out casual dinker pickleball.com to get your pickleball swag. Look good on the court and off the court with everything that casual dinker has to offer. casualdinkerpickleball.com