Both teachers and students were taught the ways of the mat by Yukon wrestling legend Bob Sharp Thursday at Holy Family School.

This was the second year in a row that an elementary wrestling clinic has been held at Holy Family, but this year saw an increase in the number of schools that attended, which included eight in total.

The clinic also featured the participation of students, which the principal of Holy Family School thought was a real benefit to the event.

"We did this last year again to introduce new coaches to the sport," said Ted Hupe.

"This year the twist is we brought kids to be part of the demonstration, so we could demonstrate games and demonstrate techniques because we have coaches with 40 years of experience and we have coaches who have no experience, who want to get into it."

Sharp, who has been involved wrestling for 40 years, went over basic strategies for wrestling, what a match looks like, how to minimize the risk of injury and how to make wrestling enjoyable for kids participating in it.

The biggest event on the elementary wrestling calender is the Yukon Championships, which this year will be held the last week of February at the Canada Games Centre.

Last year's Yukon Championships had 225 participants, which was an increase of more than 100 from the numbers in 2007. Hupe said with interest from both Haines Junction and Ross River for this year's championships, he expects the numbers to increase once again.

Holy Family is the two-time defending champion at the wrestling championships and have more than half its student population involved in the sport.

Hupe said he has seen first-hand the benefits that wrestling has made on turning kids into better students.

"I have kids who want to wrestle and will do whatever it takes to wrestle," he said.

"So at Holy Family the criteria is you have to show up for practice, you don't have to be an A student, but you have to be caught up with your work and you can't get in trouble.

"You can't be visiting the office because wrestling can be seen as a rough sport and I want people to have self discipline. If they can stay out of the office and keep up with their work they can wrestle. It's a huge carrot for many students in many elementary schools."