By Rich Winter

605 Sports

COLORADO SPRINGS — Several weeks ago Canton wrestler Zoë Adam received the email of a lifetime. 

The email was from USA Wrestling National Women’s Coach Terry Steiner, who was inviting Adam to come to Colorado for a week to train at the Olympic Training Center at a development camp for high school wrestlers. 

“When I first saw the email I was really excited,” Adam said. “I told my mom Bree and she went crazy. I’m a little more reserved but she was the physical epitome of what I was thinking inside.” 

Invites to the Olympic Training Center aren’t just handed out and Adam said she met Steiner last summer after finishing with All-American honors at the national championships in Fargo, North Dakota. 

Steiner sent Adam the schedule for the senior and junior tournaments and a developmental camp schedule. She missed the first camp and didn’t know if another opportunity would come around again. 

“I missed that first camp so I just decided to just focus on my life and training and getting ready for my high school season,” she said. 

And then the email came. Adam said the family wasted little time getting registered despite some concerns if Zoe could actually go. 

“We registered for the camp and we didn’t know about flights or the cost of the camp,” Adam said.

The family arranged flights, travel and accommodations but there was one more hurdle before Adam could officially say she was headed to the Olympic Training Center. 

“We weren’t sure if I would be eligible for the state meet if I went to the camp,” Adam said. “We knew athletes aren’t able to train with their clubs or off-site from their school but we were hopeful.”

The camp Adam will be attending from Jan. 5-9 is a freestyle camp. At the high school level in South Dakota, athletes compete in folkstyle wrestling. 

Adam’s father, Eric, called the South Dakota High School Activities Association and explained the situation to the high school sports governing body. 

“They were actually pretty excited I was going and they had no problem signing off on the trip,” she said. “We went back to Canton and had our athletic directors and my high school coach sign off on the trip.” 

Adam said the prospect of training at the Olympic Training Center is enormous for her development. 

“I’m just so overwhelmed honestly,” she said. “It is a huge deal and I want to do my best while I’m there.” 

Adam will be joined by 44 other athletes from the United States and five from Japan. She says she will be training two-to-three times a day. 

“I like the idea of getting back into freestyle so I’ll be prepared for this summer,” she said. “I hope to learn some new moves and meet new people that have the same mindset and like working hard.”

Adam moved to Canton from Alberta, Canada in the fall 2021. She immediately captured a state championship at the 2022 state meet in the 190-pound division. 

She has been part of a groundswell of girls that are now wrestling in Canton. Adam reports 28 girls from grades 7-12 wrestling for the C-Hawks. 

“I’m overwhelmed at the amount of girls that are coming out,” she said. “I’m passionate about the sport but having other athletes like Taylor Graveman (of Spearfish) and Maraia Kruske (of Spearfish) doing well. I feel super blessed and thankful for opportunities for girls.”

Adam is 4-0 on the season having wrestled in tournaments in Minnesota and most recently at the Floyd Farrand Invitational in Sioux Falls.