RBC Training Ground gives local athletes - no matter what sport they are involved in - the chance to test their strength, speed, power and endurance in front of officials from 14 Olympic sports, and earn ‘Future Olympian’ funding.
On Friday Feb. 23, Olympic officials will be bringing the search for young athletes with raw talent to Kelowna for the first time ever.
A Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) and RBC initiative to bring new and undiscovered athletes into Canada’s Olympic talent pool is an open, free, talent discovery event. The Kelowna event is one of more than 30 local combines happening across the country in 2018.
Olympic silver medal-winning rower Will Crothers (London, 2012) and bronze medal-winning cyclist Laura Brown (Rio, 2016) will be available to media on site, and mentoring participants.
Top performers in Kelowna (any athletes deemed to have Olympic potential) will advance to a BC regional final in Richmond on April 7, 2018, or begin further testing with specific sports.
In addition to training support from a national sport organization the athlete may not have considered, top performers also win ‘Future Olympian’ financial support from RBC.
There is no charge. Local athletes (between the ages of 14 and 25) curious about whether they might be suited to an Olympic sport are encouraged to sign up in advance at rbctrainingground.ca
At the event they will be measured for anthropometric suitability (things like wingspan and body type) and perform speed, power, strength and endurance benchmark tests in front of officials from the Canadian Olympic Committee and 14 national sport organizations in hopes of reenergizing a dream or being discovered and directed toward an Olympic sport.
Overall, the program is designed to help fill a hole in Canada’s amateur sport system (talent identification in a country as big as Canada) and to then provide the uncovered talent with the high-performance sport resources they need to achieve their podium dreams.
The combine event will be held at the Capital News Centre on Friday, Feb. 23 from 9 a.m. to noon.