EDGE ATHLETICS

As Edge Athletics begins a new chapter at Our Lady of Lourdes High School, Coach Jim Santoro reflects on the journey, the people, and the purpose that have defined Edge Athletics for more than three decades.

Over the past several weeks, I’ve received more phone calls, text messages, and emails than I can count, all asking the same question:

“What’s going to happen to Edge Athletics?”

For a while, I honestly didn’t know.

When Poughkeepsie Day School announced the sale of the Gilkeson Center, there were a lot of unknowns. There were conversations to have, decisions to make, and more uncertainty than I had experienced in a long time.

Today, I’m incredibly grateful to be able to say that Edge Athletics has found a wonderful new home at Our Lady of Lourdes High School, and I couldn’t be more excited about what lies ahead.

But something unexpected happened during this transition.It caused me to slow down. It caused me to reflect. When you’ve spent nearly forty years coaching and more than three decades building something like Edge Athletics, you rarely stop to look back. You’re always planning the next practice, organizing the next camp, preparing for the next season, or thinking about how to better serve the next group of young athletes.

This time, I had to stop. And in doing so, I realized something. Edge Athletics was never about a building. Buildings are important. They give us a place to learn, compete, and grow. But they don’t define who we are. People do.

For nearly forty years, I’ve had the privilege of coaching young people. I’ve celebrated championships. I’ve experienced heartbreaking losses.I’ve watched players make game-winning shots and watched others fight through disappointments that seemed overwhelming at the time.

Those memories will always be part of my journey. But when I look back today, they aren’t the first things that come to mind. Instead, I think about the relationships. The former player who sends a wedding invitation. The athlete who introduces me to his children. The parent who tells me that basketball wasn’t the most important thing their son or daughter learned through our program. Those are the moments that stay with you.

Looking back, I realize how incredibly fortunate I’ve been. Very few people get the opportunity to spend a lifetime doing something they truly love while making a difference in the lives of others. If anything, this journey has made me appreciate that privilege even more.

Over the past two years, life has given me a perspective I never expected to have. Through serious illness, multiple surgeries, and a long road back, I was reminded that circumstances can change in an instant. Buildings can change. Schedules change. Plans change. But purpose doesn’t have to.

That realization has made this transition easier than I ever imagined. Because our purpose has never changed. Basketball has always been the vehicle. Helping young people build confidence, character, resilience, leadership, and a belief in themselves has always been the destination.

Lately, I’ve started noticing something that makes me smile almost every week. An athlete will walk up to me before an AAU game and say, “Coach…you coached my dad.” Every single time I hear those words, they stop me for just a second. They remind me how quickly time passes and how blessed I’ve been to spend my life doing something I truly love.

A few weeks ago at camp, something happened that caught me completely by surprise. One of our athletes walked into the gym wearing an old Edge Athletics camp T-shirt. Years ago, we gave campers a different colored shirt each week, so it immediately caught my attention. I smiled and asked him, “How long ago did you come to camp?” I assumed he must have attended when he was eight or nine years old. He smiled back and said, “Coach…this was my dad’s.”

For a moment, I just stood there. Then it hit me. We’ve reached the point where the children of our former campers are now becoming our campers. As if that wasn’t enough, my own grandson has attended Edge Athletics Camp for each of the past three summers.

Watching him walk through the same gym doors his father walked through years ago is something I never imagined when Edge Athletics first began. Life has a funny way of coming full circle.

Then there are the moments that still make me laugh. I’ll be out to dinner with my wife, Lynn, walking through the grocery store, shopping at the mall, or attending another sporting event when someone walks over and says, “Hi, Coach!” Sometimes I recognize them immediately. Sometimes…if I’m being honest…I don’t.

We’ll start talking, and eventually they’ll tell me they attended an Edge camp, played against one of my teams, watched Lourdes basketball growing up, or simply followed our program over the years. Some I coached. Some I didn’t. Yet somehow our paths crossed.

Those conversations never get old. They remind me that Edge Athletics has become part of the fabric of this community in ways I never imagined when all of this began.

There is one person, however, who has been part of every step of this journey. My wife, Lynn. People see the coach. She has lived with the person behind the whistle. She’s experienced the victories, the heartbreaking losses, the long nights, the weekends in gyms, the difficult conversations, the unrealistic expectations that sometimes come with coaching, and every sacrifice that this profession demands.

When I left a successful career at IBM to pursue coaching and build Edge Athletics, it wasn’t just my leap of faith. It was hers, too. She believed in me every step of the way.

Several months ago, Lynn said something to me that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about. She said, “When we retire, we need to find something that we both love.” A little while later she came back to me and smiled. She said, “You know…I realized something. You already have yours.”

She was right. I do. Not because of basketball itself. Because of moments like these. Because of the relationships. Because of watching young people grow into adults, parents, coaches, leaders, and role models for the next generation. That’s what I love.

Before I close, I want to say thank you.

Thank you to Poughkeepsie Day School for providing a home where thousands of young athletes learned, competed, and grew. The Gilkeson Center will always be a special chapter in the Edge Athletics story.

Thank you to Our Lady of Lourdes High School, for opening your doors and giving Edge Athletics a new home. Your generosity ensures that this mission will continue for years to come, and I couldn’t be more grateful.

Most importantly, thank you to every athlete, every parent, every coach, every volunteer, and every family who has placed their trust in Edge Athletics over the years. You are the reason this organization exists. The address may be changing. The mission never will.

Tomorrow another young athlete will walk into our gym. Maybe they’re hoping to become a better basketball player. Maybe they’re searching for confidence. Maybe they’re looking for friendships. Maybe they’re simply looking for a place where they belong.

Whatever brings them through those doors, I hope they leave with something far more valuable than a better jump shot. I hope they leave believing in themselves. That’s been our mission from the very beginning.

And, God willing, it will continue for generations to come.

I’ll see you in the gym.

Coach Jim Santoro
Founder & Director
Edge Athletics