Steve Rennalls believes his new wrestling club will affect athletes for the better – both on and off the mat.

The 29-year-old launched -60.7° Wrestling Club earlier this week at Peak Fitness in Riverdale. The name is a play on the Yukon capital’s latitude and typically frigid temperatures.

With the past successes of Yukoners Brittanee Laverdure and Erica Sharp as a guide, Rennalls is hoping to mine some future stars out of the current crop of young local wrestlers.

“The potential is enormous,” Rennalls said in a sit-down interview Wednesday. “This is a sport for everybody. That’s the beauty of wrestling. Anyone can thrive, and there’s a weight class for everyone.”

To be a successful wrestler, athletes need to be disciplined, tough and comfortable with uncomfortable situations.

“All of this describes people living in the Yukon,” Rennalls said, noting that the sport builds character, confidence and changes lives physically.

The newly-formed freestyle wrestling club evolved out of much thought and discussion with local wrestling aficionados Ted Hupé and Arctic Winter Games coach Rob Langmaid, Rennalls said.

Hupé – the principal of Holy Family Elementary School – organizes the annual elementary wrestling championships, which saw more than 500 athletes compete last season.

In terms of percentages, the territory has the most student wrestlers in the country, Hupé told the Star in 2013.

Rennalls, originally from Mississauga, Ont., began his wrestling career in high school, before spending four years on the varsity squad at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont.

Rennalls had success on the provincial and national circuits, and joined the Montreal Wrestling Club following his graduation from McMaster.

While in Montreal, he spent a year with Concordia University, winning a silver medal at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport championships in 2009.

Rennalls’ 13-year career saw him compete against some of the best in the world in venues across North America, Europe and Israel.

He came to Whitehorse in 2012 to work in exploration, but has since moved on to work for both Aasman Brand Communications and the Cork and Bull Steakhouse.

Rennalls, who has coaching experience and is working to become accredited, said he hopes to one day be a better coach than he was an athlete.

“If you commit to this sport, you can succeed,” he said. “Wrestling took me places. With the right coach and right situation, others could do it, too.”

The club will meet Monday afternoons from 4:30 to 6 p.m. throughout the year at a cost of $30 per month.

“This is just the start,” said Rennalls. “I’d like to build the club into three or four days a week, but that would take a lot more commitment from athletes and coaches.”

Interested athletes can contact Rennalls at srennalls@hotmail.com.