Parker Yaskow wasn't about to give up that easily.
Fighting in his first match of the 10-11 year-old sparring division at the B.C. Provincial TaeKwon-Do championships Saturday at Duchess Park secondary, Yaskow got hit in the chest in the second round.
It knocked him off his feet and onto the mat.
He got the wind knocked out of him and couldn't breathe momentarily.
But that didn't deter him at all.
"I got back up and sparred and the match was tied," said the 11-year-old afterwards. "We went onto another one-minute round and I won the match."
Yaskow, who holds a blue belt with red stripe, advanced to the final and won gold.
The key to his victory, especially in the first match?
"I just sucked it up," he said, wearing his gold medal with pride.
Yaskow was one of 55 entrants from the Family TaeKwon-do who competed at provincials. The one-day tournament featured 225 athletes from 18 clubs.
Yaskow, a Grade 5 student at Beaverly Elementary, also won a bronze medal in the patterns event. It was his second tournament of the season.
Competing in taekwon-do for five years, he likes sparring the best.
"Sparring is my strongest because it challenges you to see how you're doing in the school [training at Family TaeKwon-do], and I just try my best," said Yaskow who eventually would like to get his black belt. "It's also fun competing against your friends, we just put our friendships aside and spar. It's a great time."
Nolan Hull, an 11-year-old who holds his red belt, won gold in sparring and silver in patterns in his 10 - 11 year-old division.
Both of his sparring matches went the distance to three rounds. The second match was all tied after two rounds but Hull used a punch to the stomach to win the gold medal.
"It was very hard, I'm still sweating," said the Grade 6 Van Way elementary student. "I'm so tired, it was a lot of work but I'm happy with how it went down."
Britannia Dodyk, 5, was the youngest competitor from Family TaeKwon-Do. She won silver in the patterns division after she only began the sport six months ago. Saturday was her first tournament.
"I did a four directional punch and I was nervous competing in front of everybody," said Dodyk, who holds a white belt. "But [instructor] Jordan said he'd be right there watching me."
Cole Abou-Tibbett, 16, and Kyle Graham, 15, are part of a trio of teenaged black belts from Family TaeKwon-Do who're on the B.C. team.
They both won silver medals in their middleweight and lightweight sparring divisions respectively on Saturday.
At the Western Canadian championships in Warman, Sask., Abou-Tibbett won middleweight gold in individual sparring, while Graham earned silver in lightweight sparring.
Abou-Tibbett holds his second degree black belt which he earned five months ago. He'd eventually like to compete at the world championships but he liked competing at home for once.
"It's nice fighting at home as well as representing my Kaska First National and being a role model for aboriginal youth," said the Grade 11 Cedars Christian student.
Graham, a Grade 9 student at D.P. Todd secondary, holds his first degree black belt and has competed in taekwon-do for eight years.
The sport, as well as being on Team B.C. has given him a lot of confidence.
"It's given me a lot of self-discipline too and I feel like I'm a leader in class," he said. "If I need to help somebody, I'll do that.
"With Team B.C. it's given me a major confidence boost. It helps having the other two [Cole and Dan Watt] here because each of us are in different weight classes and it helps fighting taller guys."
