Savino Quatela

"There’s a lot of adults in martial arts in general that can’t do what he does"

- Joe Quatela, Savino's father, on his son's abilities

Savino Quatela is a Star Wars fan who gained online viral fame for practicing martial arts mimicking the fight movements of Darth Maul from Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace. His video, showing him demonstrating his skills by imitating Maul's fight style in The Phantom Menace, was posted on December 2, 2017 to Machinima's Facebook page and has since been viewed over 33 million times.

"This kid is basically Darth Maul" video
"He mimics scenes in the movies. He picks up things at lightning speed."

- Joe Quatela, Savino's father, on his son's style

On December 2, 2017, Machinima posted a video on its Facebook page. The video (filmed around 2015/2016) depicts Savino Quatela, an Ontario boy competitor at world championship tournaments, performing his martial skills with a bo staff back in while mimicking the fight movements of Darth Maul from Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, the first installment of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, released in 1999. According to Joe Quatela, Savino's father, Savino has an incredible talent for studying other fighters, mimicking scenes from movies, and adding their skills to his own repertoire. Savino's talents have set him apart from most of his peers, including older brother Matteo. By December 7, the video had been viewed 10 million times. As of 2018, the video has over 33 million views. Actually, Darth Maul was one of Savino's earliest influencers along Power Rangers and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, inspiring him to focus his training efforts on the bo staff after he and his brother were signed for Taekwondo lessons. Even his father suspects that Savino has a photographic memory, as according to him, he picks up things at lightning speed. Both Savino and Matteo tend to practice Star Wars-esque fighting style at home as part of their training routine, where they practice with several toy lightsabers and a variety of Jedi and Sith outfits, something that Joe approves and encourages, as both his sons have succeeded in their sport becuase they like to practice it on their own without being prompted nor pressured. According to Joe, his children never cross the line into fooling around or trying to hurt themselves with their toy weapons, never striking each other with the plastic lightsabers as they have developed a different degree of respect for such things.

As of now, Savino has competed in eleven of twelve competitions on North American Sports Karate Association tournament over 2016, often pitting against boys up to two years his senior, including kids who appeared in "America's Got Talent" and in the 2017 X-Men film Logan. He holds too a black belt. His father has stated that though Savino loves compiting, his long-term dream is to appear on screen, both in television and feature films. In Joe's mind, thrilled by the attention Savino has received for his skills, he hopes that his son will inspire other children to deditcate themselves to what they love, as his own children were inspired by watching other young people do amazing things like they do now.