Rhema Grade 8 students with wrestling coach Bill Bailey at Gold’s Gym.
New wrestling unit enjoyed by Grade 8 class
Monday February 8, 2010
Rhema Christian School recently added a wrestling unit to its Grade 8 physical-education program.

Teacher Peter Oussoren says he plays hockey with wrestling coach Bill Bailey, who also works at Gold’s Gym, and approached him about teaching at the school.

The result was Rhema’s first-ever wrestling unit, which took place every other day throughout January.

“(The students) love it, there’s high interest,” Oussoren says.

He says it is an opportunity to teach students about real wrestling, similar to what would be seen at the Olympics.

The unit is an opportunity for students to experience an individual sport rather than a team sport, notes Oussoren.

“In phys. ed we don’t do enough highlighting of individual sports, so you start see kids who maybe don’t excel as much in team sports really excel at this, so it’s a chance to diversify the phys-ed program and have different kids excelling at different sports, and that’s the real plus,” he says.

For the last wrestling session Oussoren took the students to Peterborough’s Gold’s Gym to experience some grappling in the cage.