While basketball fever grabs Niles North, another winter sport has started to make the rounds. 

The Niles North Wrestling team started their season on Nov. 22 with a match against New Trier, and fell short of the win. Though wrestling isn’t the most glamorous sport at Niles North, it does hold an argument as one of the hardest sports to be in. 

Last week on Friday, Dec. 16, and Saturday, Dec. 17, the Niles North Varsity Wrestling team participated in a tournament at Glenbrook South. Senior Wrestler Niko Bert was eliminated in his consolation matches looking to place in the top five. 

“I appreciate the work ethic and challenges as well as having fun and making friends,” senior heavyweight Niko Bert said “The biggest challenge was pushing myself to go through it every day because it (wrestling) is a hard sport.” 

Over the years, participation has gone up and down due to interest as well as difficulty. However, this year it seems as if the interest in the sport has risen, particularly within the freshman class. Everywhere you go, you can see the freshmen in their purple Niles North wrestling hoodies. 

“It’s a fun sport, you get to meet people and it coaches work ethic and it’s a great work-out; it also helps with other sports,” Bert said.