That should make today all the more special at Taieri College.
The school’s indoor training gymnasium will host the national wrestling championships, beginning this morning and running until tomorrow.
Entries are down on normal due to Covid-19, although about 100 competitors will vie for national titles.
Included in those were Commonwealth Games representatives Brahm Richards, Ana Moceyawa and Michelle Montague.
However, there were plenty of youngsters in action too, including 44 entrants in the youngest grade for 10-13 year-olds.
Covid-19 has made preparing for the event difficult and wrestlers have had to adapt their training to ensure they could safely compete.
"Clubs and coaches have had to modify when they’ve trained and how they’ve trained, even the intensity level they’ve trained at to make sure people stay well and healthy," Jane Hamer, an event organiser, said.
"It’s been a very disruptive year.
"But we get to go out on a high note and have nationals."
It had also been a difficult event to plan for the organisers, having to prepare to hold it under both Alert Level 1 and 2.
That had prompted the move to Mosgiel, as that could enable gathering limits more readily than the original host location of Gore.
It will mean that even if the country makes a sudden shift back to Alert Level 2, the event can still go ahead.
"It’s required a lot of planning and preparation at different levels; planning for Level 2 and planning for Level 1.
"Level 1 makes it a lot easier, but we’ve still got to keep up our contact tracing and good hygiene and cleaning.
"It’s a testament to the clubs that throughout they’ve followed the rules, particularly playing a contact sport like wrestling.
"Just to be able to get us to the point where we’re able to do this this year."
Competition begins at 10.30am today.
