Saturday, Nov. 30 at Munster High School was the first chance for many freshmen to prove themselves on the JV wrestling team.

“A meet like this is a chance to see how [the freshmen] do. This is a good measurement for us to see how they’re doing and how we can improve,” Coach David Gnaden said.

Some of the boys have been wrestling for up to six years, but being a part of the high school team is still a new experience for them.

“There’s different rules [between middle school and high school], and there is a lot more skill involved. It’s a lot trickier,” Brett Brown (9) said.

Though rules may be different from what they’re used to, each meet gives the boys a chance to try something new and learn from what they see.

“It’s a good tournament for us since some of them have never wrestled before. This one is a good practice to get them some mat time,” Coach Josh Morgan said.

With most sports teams, they win or lose as a whole. With wrestling, most scores are individual and are added together only in a dual match.

“With a dual match, the points are added up from each match and that makes the team score,” Gnaden said.