Steve Williams is his name, but El StevO is his pickleball name. He changed it because so many Steves put their paddles on the rack during open play.
“Like, 3 or 4 Steves would run over to play when they called out the name. It was confusing, ‘not that Steve, this Steve.’ After doing that a few times, I changed my name to El StevO, capital O of course, and I added the El just to have fun with it. And that way, I knew which Steve they were calling. I distinguished myself from the other Steves,” he said.
Christianne London St. Philip first met El StevO in April of 2022 when they played doubles against each other. Even though the charismatic El StevO stood out, the initial meeting was lackluster.
“Well, he was playing with somebody. He had a partner that was a female, a very pretty female. And I had a partner that was my coworker. So he thought I was with him, and I thought he was with her. So I never even gave El StevO a second thought,” Christianne said.
They would occasionally cross paths on the court after their first meeting, have casual conversations, and learn more about each other. Christianne is a firefighter and single mother with 2 grown kids. El StevO is a high school wrestling coach and single dad with 5 children ranging in ages from 16 to 21.
El StevO quickly concluded that Christianne was a beautiful person inside and out who had been through a divorce and, like himself, knew the challenges of raising kids. They shared common values through religion, and both loved pickleball. He was officially smitten.
“So I asked her if I could call her. If I could get her number, call her and go out. We could get some ice cream or a cup of coffee or whatever,” he said.
Christianne and El StevO still remember her exact response. “No.”
She explained that she needed pickleball to stay the same. She didn’t want to get involved with anybody on the pickleball court because if it went wrong, then it would be awkward. He took the no in stride and even made a joke.
“I said, oh, okay, well, maybe when you’re ready, you can send up some smoke signals.”
Christianne smiled at his request but held tightly to keep pickleball first. She sent no smoke signals; a couple of months would pass.
God-incidice
El StevO doesn’t believe in coincidences. He instead calls them God-incidences and credits intervention in helping things along after Christianne’s no.
“There was rain one day at Pompano, so my partner and I, a different partner from before, went to El Rio to play, and who else happened to be in El Rio that day? Low and behold, who do I see,” he said.
Christianne’s partner and coworker chuckled when he saw El StevO approaching the court.
“I was like, no way, look who it is,” Christianne said.
They all laughed about the unexpected meet up and then played.
“We were playing in different games and eventually wound up partnering. And she had a moment where she got lightheaded because it was so hot outside that day, and I just happened to have some nice cold watermelon in my cooler that refreshed and rehydrated her and saved her from collapse,” he said.
They talked a lot that day, especially when they were cooling down after the lightheadedness, and El StevO told Christianne how he viewed the event.
“I said, look at this little divine appointment that God orchestrated here today,” he said.
A month later, it happened again. This time they were at Pompano, and it rained on them, and everybody cleared out. They went under a pavilion, just the 2 of them, and, as Christians, had fellowship and chatted.
“I said we got to document this another lengthy bit of time together. I pulled out my cell phone and took a selfie of us sitting at the bench. And I handed her the phone. ‘Do you want to text this to yourself?’ She started texting and said, ‘Wait a minute.’ But she wound up pressing send. I had her number, and that was it.”
Daily phone calls led to date nights and encouraging one another through prayer. They also started playing pickleball consistently together, setting up a routine. The chemistry was excellent, as were the results.
“We beat 2 teams back-to-back; 2 decent teams. We pickled them both,” he said.
On February 6, 2023, El StevO proposed to Christianne on the pickleball court.
“I took a pickleball and put a ring in it, and we had just got a side-out point back, and she was serving. So I handed her the ball with the ring. She heard it jingle and started to shake it like, what’s wrong with this ball? And then I said, oh, give it here, let me check it. I took it, cracked it, got the ring out, and got on the knee. I asked her if she would marry me. She was freaking out, and everybody kind of shut down. Hey, who fell on pickleball court number two? They didn’t know what was happening, and then they figured it out quickly, and everybody gathered around. And her kids came into town from Orlando, and friends, they all surprised her and shared the moment,” he said.
A moment that Christianne almost avoided for love of the game and past relationships. She is glad she changed her mind.
“I realized after talking with him for several months that he was a very good man, he was a man of integrity, and he was a good father to his children. What a special person I had met,” she said.
They look towards August for a wedding and have remained inseparable ever since. They also are excited to begin tournament play as husband and wife.
Photo provided by Steve Williams.
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