Teamwork makes the dream work and right now the students who are part of the Strathmore High School wrestling program are doing great, their Head Coach Erick Claros explains that it’s more for the love of the sports that the kids hit the mat than anything else.

“Our season is going really, really well,” Claros explained that the team is working better together and harder every day.

Throughout the season he says that they have improved their teamwork skills, which can sometimes be hard to do in such an individual sport like wrestling.

“It’s an individual sport, in practice at the beginning it was a little bit hard because you’re trying to build a team. We started in mid-October and I just saw the progression. It was just starting to get better and better, week by week,” he said.

Claros said, “Everybody started to come together and to listen more, and started to help out each other it was it's beautiful to see.”

The team is returning from their latest tournament in Calgary where many in the group were rewarded with individual medals. It was one of their first chances to participate in a wrestling tournament because of the COVID-19 pandemic, “It went well and it was good it was a good experience for the kids."

The SHS team is a mix of boys and girls from Grades 10 to 12.  Most of the team are brand new to wrestling except for maybe one more experienced athlete.

“It's a little bit challenging because you're starting from the beginning, but at the same time, you get to see them flourish it’s really positive,” he said.

The coach says the entire group has a very positive mindset, where they aren’t focused on winning all the time, but more on enjoying and learning the sport.

“This year they just want to just wrestle and have fun and learn which is really neat. They want to be out there on the mat and just wrestle, which is really refreshing,” he said.

Next up the SHS Wrestling Team will travel to Medicine Hat to take part in a rural championship tournament on February 18 and 19th.