Jess Federici and Conor Hart have launched the Sooke Wrestling Club. The club runs every Monday and Wednesday at Journey Middle School). (Kevin Laird/Sooke News Mirror)

Wrestling is one of the world’s most popular sports, contested at the Olympics every four years, with participants from all over the world.

Now Sooke has its own wrestling club.

The Sooke Wrestling Club started this fall under the guidance of Journey Middle School teachers Conor Hart and Jess Federici, and follows on the success of a the school program started by the pair in 2018.

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“I haven’t come across anything tougher in sports,” Federici told the News Mirror in an interview earlier this year.

“It’s physically and mentally a real demanding sport, and I’ve run marathons, played field hockey and soccer.”

Both Hart (yes, he’s related to Canadian wrestling great Bret Hart) and Federici wrestled competitively at the university level – Federici with Simon Fraser University and Hart at the University of Calgary.

The Sooke Wrestling Club is open to all middle school and high school student athletes who wish to participate. This is a not-for-profit organization and fees cover B.C. Wrestling membership.

The club is open Monday and Wednesday from 3:30 to 5 p.m. at Journey Middle School.



editor@sookenewsmirror.com

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