John Kempis was shaking. Minutes before his first competitive taekwondo match, the 25-year-old’s nerves had hit.

“Just relax,” he told himself.

He tried to remember advice he was given by some other athletes that he’d done some light sparring with leading up to his debut fight.

“They just told me to get out of the way,” said Kempis, sitting cross-legged on the foam floor upstairs at Riverdale’s Peak Fitness as he recalled the competition.

He stepped onto the competition floor, still shaking and prepared to fight.

Kempis kept a careful watch on the clock, watching as the seconds ticked by.

Heading into the second round, he was leading, but the match was tied just before the end. The competitors would go to a sudden death round, where they would aim to score two points first – a golden point.

Kempis knew he had to hit first and he had to hit hard.

He skipped a punch, which would have been worth only one point – he needed two to win. Instead, he landed a kick on his opponent’s torso, enough to win and advance to his next match.

“He left it right down to the wire,” said Nathan Cross, who has been training with Kempis for the better part of the last year and who founded Tiger Taekwondo Yukon. “He knows how to make it exciting.”

Cross moved up to the Yukon from central Alberta a few years ago and started Tiger Taekwondo Yukon last year. He recruited Kempis from a local gym, where he saw him training in other forms of martial arts. At first their time practising taekwondo together was just for workouts, but the two now make up Tiger Taekwondo Yukon’s competitive team. Kempis currently competes in the lightweight coloured belt – he holds a green belt – while Cross competes in the heavyweight black belt division.

When the club first began, classes were run out of a log cabin just outside of town, but as the group grew, they looked for a new space to practise in.

They are now settled into the upstairs of Peak Fitness, which is also home to other martial arts athletes.

Cross describes the club as “fledgling ... small, but mighty.”

He began offering formal registered classes earlier this year in the new space.

They now train twice a week: Mondays and Wednesdays from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

In the week leading up to Kempis’ first competition at the Alberta Open Taekwondo Championship in Edmonton, the club had its first belt testing, where the about 10 members demonstrated their knowledge and skills, including breaking a wooden board with a well-placed kick, to earn their next level of belt.

With 30 minutes to go until his final, Kempis had just enough time recover, try to relax and battle the cramps that were creeping into his legs.

He stepped onto the competition floor once again and looked up at his opponent. The athlete had about three inches of reach on Kempis. He knew his previous strategy of “just get out of the way” wasn’t going to cut it. Instead, he decided to attack.

In the second round, Kempis tried to get even more aggressive and as his opponent attacked, Kempis opted for a spinning kick, which accidentally hit his opponent’s face. He was deducted points.

The match went down to the wire again, but Kempis fell 17-14 to earn his first-ever taekwondo silver medal, also a first for the club.

“I still can’t imagine I did the tournament,” he said.

While Cross had his own matches later in the day – during which he went undefeated to win gold – he said his highlight was seeing Kempis compete.

“We’ve worked pretty hard at this,” he said.

Cross said many coaches and athletes commended Kempis on his first competition.

“I guess I did well,” said Kempis, still cross-legged on the floor at Peak Fitness.

Up next for Kempis is likely working on his next colour belt – blue – although he said he is motivated in his training even without the promise of an upgraded belt colour.

The Tiger Taekwondo Club is on Spring Break now, but will be returning next week. They are accepting new athletes and those interested can contact Cross at ncross@hotmail.com.