16-year-old Aaron Khaykin has made it through several rounds in the online voting competition for Sports Illustrated Youth Athlete of the Year
Looking for an extracurricular activity after the COVID-19 pandemic, 16-year-old Aurora athlete Aaron Khaykin discovered a boxing facility close to home.
While there, he said he soon grew a passion for the combat sport. But, he said, he sought more creativity than boxing alone could offer. From there, he began exploring other combat styles, including Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai and kickboxing.
“It’s grown my confidence a lot,” Aaron said. “I was not the most confident before I started sports. But now I’m able to understand, OK, I have what it takes to be there, especially when I compete at large-scale competitions where lots of people are able to watch me.”
Now, the young mixed martial artist is aiming for another milestone: being named Sports Illustrated’s Youth Athlete of the Year. Aaron and his family have entered the competition based on online voting, which could see Aaron appear in a Sports Illustrated advertisement and win $25,000.
He is vying for the title after a strong first three years in his sporting career. He has competed in several events from the ADCC Submission Fighting World Championship over the past couple of years, winning within his age and weight class in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. He also qualified for provincial-level wrestling competitions at his high school and debuted as an amateur fighter with a win July 5.
His father, Eugene Khaykin, said he submitted his son for the competition after seeing him progress in the sport. He said he wanted to give Aaron a chance, and sure enough, Aaron was selected to be part of the competition.
“We’re very proud of him. He’s found something that he has a passion for that he really enjoys doing. The sport itself is a very tough sport. It requires a lot of discipline,” he said, adding that the family and coaches ensure he keeps up good grades to continue competing. “That puts up another layer of commitment and discipline.”
The competition has multiple rounds of voting, with each round narrowing down the competition more. The competition also includes charity partners, with people getting to buy votes by donating to the V Foundation for Cancer Research and the Why Not You Foundation for underprivileged athletes.
So far, Aaron has made it through a couple of rounds of voting and sits in first place for his group in the current round. He said the award would mean a lot to him and help him travel farther out for competition to continue his career.
“I really like the community support,” he said. “It’s gotten me out talking to a lot of people, trying to secure some votes. It’s been going really well recently.”
Eugene said that despite the physicality of the sport, he trusts the safeguards and controls put in the combat sports to keep kids safe. He said rules ensure that, though there is a chance of injury as with other impact sports, kids are built up and ready for it.
Aaron said his end goal is to compete in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and become a world champion, but in the short term, he hopes to turn professional as he gets older. He currently attends high school and is going into Grade 11.
He said it is meaningful seeing Aurora voting for him.
“It’s always nice to see somebody’s hometown supporting them,” he said. “I also think people should vote for me because I think I could set a good example for younger generations.”
You can vote for him and follow his progress online through the competition website.