More than 60 young athletes turned up at Laurentian University’s gymnasium early Sunday morning to see if they might have what it takes to become an Olympic athlete.
For the first time in its nine-year history, the RBC Training Ground came to the Nickel City on March 17.
If you’ve never heard of it, the Training Ground is basically a talent search for the next generation of Olympians. A partnership between the Canadian Olympic Committee and Canadian Olympic Foundation, and supported by the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Sport Institute Network, RBC Training Ground is a nation-wide talent identification program to find future members of Team Canada.
The sports partners involved in the program include Flag Football Canada, Squash Canada, Cycling Canada, Rugby Canada, Freestyle Canada, Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton, Canoe Kayak Canada, Climbing Escalde Canada, Freestyle Canada (aerials), Luge Canada, Rowing Canada, Rugby Canada, Speed Skating Canada, Squash Canada, Volleyball Canada and Wrestling Canada.
Real-life Olympian Brittany Maclean was on hand for the Sudbury event. She won a bronze medal in the 4x200 metre freestyle relay at the 2016 Rio Olympics, and has worked with RBC Training Ground after retiring from elite athletics.
“RBC Training Ground is a really great way for a lot of athletes to figure out what they might be able to be good at,” she said.
“They have four tests - power, strength, speed and endurance. And the best part about it as you could be a soccer player growing up your whole life, and you maybe have the same strength as an Olympic cyclist or an Olympic speed skater. So the whole point of this program is that there's a ton of different sports that you might not even know exists.”
Past RBC Training Ground participants have actually made it to the top of the Olympic podium “in a sport that they've never tried before coming to RBC Training Ground,” she said.
Athletes aged 14-25 took part in the event. Each participant has all their measurements taken, as different sports look for different body types, and then they move through four test stations.
The test stations are: speed (40m sprint); power (vertical jump and six-second watt bike), strength (mid-thigh pull) and endurance (either a beep test or an assault bike).
The data is analyzed and some athletes will be invited for further sport-specific testing. From there, the top 100 from all the Training Ground events go to the national final, from which 30 are selected to receive training funding to help them grow their skills.
“So depending on what their sport needs are, they could see the athlete and recruit them right away and be like, ‘Hey, I would love for you to come out for testing, do some extra stuff within their training environment,’” said Haginaa Sivapunniyan of Canadian Sport Institute Ontario, one of the organizers of the March 17 event.
“They don't need to be the best in all areas. It could just be just one.”
Brenna Gervais, a Grade 9 student at Chippewa Secondary School in North Bay, was one of the youth athletes participating in RBC Training Ground.
A volleyball player, she said she thought the event was a good chance “to improve in my sport and maybe see if there's any other sports out there for me," adding the overall experience was a lot of fun.
Heidi Ulrichsen is Sudbury.com’s assistant editor.
