Dave Paul
When Boady and Dalas Santavy attend the World Junior Weightlifting Championships this year they’ll be joined by a third family member.
Lifter Noah Santavy, son of coach Dalas and brother of Boady, has also been named to the Canadian national junior team headed to Tokyo in June.
Noah, 18, will make his international debut while Boady, 19, will compete in his third and final world junior competition.
Their goals will be different, said father Dalas, head coach of Canada’s eight-member male team.
“With the weight totals he’s been putting up Boady has a shot at a medal,” says Dalas Santavy.
“I mean, he’s competing against the best (junior) lifters in the world so if he breaks his personal bests and has a top-5 finish, we’d probably be happy. But I know he’d love a medal. He’s hungry for it.”
Boady is competing in the 94-kilo weight class and Noah in the 77- kilo category.
“This will give (Noah) a really good taste,” of international competition, said Dalas.
Noah Santavy, who has followed in his father’s footsteps to become a boilermaker, won’t have it easy. While is brother is a federally-funded athlete and gets local sponsorship money from the Carpenters Union and Sarnia building trades, Noah must train while working full time, “just like I had to do,” said Dalas with a chuckle.
And there’s more good news for Sarnia’s weightlifting dynasty.
Dalas’s daughter Alana Santavy recently competed at the Ontario Championships.
At the age of 13, she was the youngest competitor at the meet and managed to finish sixth overall, breaking the provincial juvenile record an 82 kg clean and jerk.
“She’s got a very bright future,” he father said.