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Wrestlers grapple with new season

Wrestling has been a competitive sport on the Island for a while now
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Carihi’s senior wrestlers Petro Kindy-Olsen

The wait is over for the wrestlers at Carihi and across the Island because the first couple of tournaments have passed and more are on the way.

Wrestling has been a competitive sport on the Island for a while now.

The sport pits two people of the same age and generally of the same weight against each other using techniques and strength that they’ve gained from practice to subdue the other wrestler.

They’ll shake hands and lower themselves into a structured stance before the whistle blows and the round begins.

Each round is three minutes and there can be a total of two rounds depending on whether or not one wrestler is able to get 10 points higher than the other or can pin them on their back.

On Dec. 7, the Abby Invite was one of the first warm-up tournaments for the Vancouver Island wrestlers, and with some commendable results from the Carihi team.

The wrestlers on the team have all been practicing hard for the start of the season, approximately six times a week since the start of October.

Ali McPhee, one of the wrestlers from the Carihi team, says that wrestling has been the start and finish of many important factors in her life.

Positively, she says that wrestling helps boost confidence, overall body shape and creates great new friendships, while negatively, wrestling is time consuming, expensive and causes injuries.

In her opinion though, the positives have outweighed the negatives, therefore she can’t wait for the excitement of the year to really take hold.

She also looks forward to visiting old friends from the other teams.

“All the wrestlers are like my family,” she says, “I’ve made only friends through this sport, not enemies.”