On Saturday, Oct. 21, Brookline 3rd through 8th graders learned how to wrestle in a clinic hosted by the Brookline wrestling team. This practice allowed students who had not yet entered the high school to learn how to wrestle.

According to the wrestling team head coach, Trevour Smith, who is also the event organizer, the clinic is a fun way for elementary and middle school students to learn the basics of wrestling.

Wrestling team members also help out throughout the day. They act as coaches for the younger students.

“It’s good to see the little kids come out and see some good wrestling from them. They will be good models for the younger kids to see,” Smith said.

According to senior, captain Eli Feibel, in the hour and a half long session participants learn a variety of different skills.

“The coach is going to demonstrate some moves and then each of the kids is gonna have a partner and all the counselors are gonna walk around and give them tips on how to do the move better. Then, they do live, actual matches and actually wrestle,” Feibel said.

Feibel said that the main purpose of the event is to teach students how to wrestle and recruit them for the team.

“It’s a lot of young kids from all the Brookline Middle Schools coming. We’re trying to recruit some of them to wrestle on the high school team and get them excited about wrestling because we have a small program that we are trying to grow. We want a lot of freshmen who already know how to wrestle when they come in,” Feibel said.

According to Feibel most of the wrestling team learns to wrestle when they are freshmen, and with this program students get a chance to learn more about wrestling before entering the high school.

“Most of us started freshman year, there’s just a few of us who started beforehand but the one’s who started beforehand didn’t start through Brookline, they started through wrestling clubs,” Feibel said.

According to Atman Barrile, a senior on the team, helping students learn how to wrestle will help them when they come to the high school.

“It’s really hard to start as a freshmen and having to pick up so much to build a foundation, so then, when they actually come to the high school they’re not just fresh,” Barrile said.

Barrile wishes that he would have had this program when he was in middle school so he would have a base coming in and be able to pick up more things faster.

Smith’s goal for the program is to have students learn more about wrestling.

“I just want to envision that Brookline will be one of the best cities or towns that has wrestling as one of their premier sports. I thought of the event last year, I really want it to grow. We definitely want to make it an annual event, we want more kids in the community to have something to do when they are younger,” Smith said.