Young Saylor takes to the water
12-year-old competing at Henley Regatta for the Niagara Falls Rowing Club
Leave it to someone whose last name is Saylor to develop a passion for a sport that takes place on the water.
Basketball never made Malcolm Saylor jump for joy, nor did karate marshal much enthusiasm for the art of self-defence.
Only rowing has managed to catch — and keep — the interest of the youngest athlete competing at the 137th Royal Canadian Henley Regatta underway on Martindale Pond in St. Catharines.
Though the son of Chris and Kelly Saylor of Niagara Falls just celebrated his 12th birthday four months ago, he is already in his third summer training out of Niagara Falls Rowing Club. He was supposed to return for another year of “youth rowing,” the club’s learn-to-row program, but he was ready to the next step.
“He’s far beyond the level of the other youth rowers,” head coach Tony Arcuri said. “We found that we could put him in with the experienced boys, and he rowed right along with them.”
In addition to being dedicated — Saylor hasn’t missed a practice in three years — he also is coachable and a quick study.
“When you explain something to him, he corrects himself. He fixes it,” Arcuri said. “When I work on technical things with him, he tries to work on those things.
“He seems to have a bit of a natural talent to figure things out, and then go with it.”
At this week’s Henley, Saylor is entered in three sculling events: boys under-17 quad, boys under-19 quad, boys under-17 double.
“We’ve focused mostly on sculling, but he does know how to sweep row,” Arcuri said.
Saylor’s passion for rowing was hardly love at first sight. He begrudgingly went out for the sport to please his mother.
“I wanted him to be healthy,”
He seems to have a bit of a natural talent to figure things out, and then go with it. TONY ARCURI Niagara Falls Rowing Club head coach
Kelly Saylor recalled. “I wanted him to have a focus other than sitting on the couch and playing video games or something like that.
“I didn’t want him to be one of those kids.”
Saylor, who is going into Grade 7 at Notre Dame Catholic Elementary School, admitted he wasn’t all that dedicated during his first year in youth rowing.
“I would say the second year is when I truly started trying to be there,” he said. “I put way more dedication into it than the first year because the first year it was, ‘Ah, this is so boring. I don’t like doing this.’”
Saylor enjoyed being part of the caring and close-knit rowing community, however.
“I just felt like the people I were with they were such great people. They were one of the reasons I kept coming back,” he said. “I got to have fun and row with them every day.”
Saylor also came to appreciate the impact the coaches were having on his life.
“They just taught me so much. They were such amazing coaches,” he added. “I just thought I might as well stick with the sport.
“I have all this knowledge about it. I wouldn’t want that to go to waste.”
Saylor has competed in regattas on Martindale Pond but feels more pressure coming into the Henley, even though it’s the same water.
“I feel like there’s more pressure on me because it’s international. It’s on the news. There are people from all over the world,” he said. “It’s such a big event.”
Given the high level of worldclass competition, Saylor appreciates that winning three gold medals at his first Henley is highly unlikely.
“During the Henley, you have to make sure your technique is on-point. You need to make sure you’re pulling hard,” he said. “I believe if you just go as hard as you can, try your best, that can be a successful Henley.”
Saylor never thought he would be competing at the Canadian championships in only his third year in the sport.
“I thought it would be much longer than that before I actually started rowing in the Henley.”
Her son is already a gold medallist as far as Kelly Saylor is concerned.
“I think what I really like about this club is how good Malcolm feels about himself when he comes home. His selfesteem and his self-confidence have grown so much,” she said. “It’s made all the difference for him, and it’s carried over to school, to his schoolwork, to his athleticism at school.”
He has become a stickler when it comes to nutrition
“He’ll ask me, ‘Is this OK to eat before a race?’” she said. “He doesn’t want to fill up with junk food. He wants to fill up with good stuff that is going to help him do better.”
Saylor’s fitness has improved since he first picked up an oar.
“When I first started, I wasn’t that fit at all. I had a little chub on me,” he admitted with a chuckle. “Eventually, I began to slim down, and rowing filled me out to what I am now.”
“It’s a total lifestyle change,” Kelly Saylor said of her son. “He’s done fantastic. At 12 years old, he gets up at four o’clock in the morning with a smile on his face. “I’m very proud of him.” But doesn’t a parent also have to get up in the wee hours of the morning to drive the young rower in the family to practice? Mom doesn’t mind. “When you see him being so happy, him being so confident, then it’s easy for me to get up at 4:30, too.”