Joel Allen is bringing his Iron Sharpens Iron Team Wrestling Camp to Fort Dodge.

Allen, a St. Edmond graduate who is the founder and coach for ISI with Steven Farrell, is also the head wrestling coach at Dubuque Wahlert High School.

Almost 800 youth and 200 more coaches and family members will be staying at Iowa Central during the event, which begins June 11. The camp is the nation’s largest K-12 team wrestling camp program and was previously held in Cedar Falls.

“As a St. Edmond graduate and resident from the area, I am very excited to bring ISI Team Camps to Fort Dodge,” Allen said. “The community has a ton to offer. We will have campers from across the country including teams as far away as New Mexico, Utah and Florida.”

Teams, individuals and families will be arriving on June 11 and the camp concludes on June 15. Campers will be made up of male and female wrestlers who come for training from some of the world’s best coaches and athletes.

During the day, the wrestlers will be kept busy at Iowa Central’s facilities, but in the evening, residents will likely see groups of campers at local restaurants, stores, parks and other attractions.

“We were thrilled when Visit Fort Dodge learned of the opportunity to host this event,” said Kerrie Kuiper, Executive Director of Visit Fort Dodge. “And the experiences Fort Dodge can offer the teams were strengthened because of partnerships between the City of Fort Dodge, Visit Fort Dodge, and many local business partners.”

Kevin Twait, athletic director for Iowa Central, feels having the camp on campus is an opportunity that will “enhance both the men’s and women’s wrestling in our region and will serve as an outstanding recruiting tool for our Triton men/women wrestling programs.”

“We are hopeful this will become an annual event,” Twait added.

Iowa Central head wrestling coaches Luke Moffitt and Zak Hensley, recent Iowa wrestlers Real Woods and Jacob Warner, Olympic bronze medalist Myles Amine, Tanner Sloan, Dylan Palacio, Felicity Taylor and Lauren Louvie are among those scheduled to work the camp.

The first ISI camp took place in 2010 with just under 200 wrestlers in attendance. Since that time, it has grown to see almost 3,000 attend the various events each summer.

Camps are also scheduled for Wisconsin and Illinois later in the month.