Edmonton’s newly renovated Coronation Park Recreation Centre hosted hundreds of young athletes vying for a shot at Olympic-sized funding and resources to thrive in their sport. The RBC Training Ground qualifiers look for the top 100 Canadian athletes between the ages of 14 and 25 who have proven themselves in contests of speed, strength, power and endurance. Fifteen National Sport Organization partners were their judges. The program ultimately identifies 35 athletes each year as Future Olympians, who receive funding and dedicated support in the pursuit of representing Team Canada. Edmonton’s own Kelsey Mitchell, both a Summer and Winter Olympics athlete, was discovered through the same program – so it was a full circle moment to be overseeing some of the young competitors on Saturday. “When I tried out originally, I had to go all the way to Ontario to do it. So now that it’s happening here, more often in Alberta and in Edmonton, it’s pretty cool,” she told CTV News Edmonton. “We’ve seen a lot of great athletes come out of the program.:” She says without these programs, young kids may never have found the opportunity to test their limits with new sports – in her case, track cycling and bobsleigh. “I feel like in Canada, we kind of fall into playing soccer or only hockey, where now this opens up the opportunity to do so many sports.” Neville Wright, a former Olympic athlete and Bobsleigh Canada representative, said he was looking for youth who determine strength and speed — whether it be on the court, in the pool or on the track. “A lot of athletes might not even know that they have the ability to do it until they realize how strong and fast they can actually be,” he said on Saturday. Finding new strengths is precisely what Deanna Fisher, 24, was there for. She does competitive jump rope, a relatively small sport in Canada, but said she was out to try something new. Yvonne Chen, 23, does dragon boats and was motivated by a similar desire after her friend told her to try out. “He was telling me, ‘You’re an athlete. Why don’t you go and try a series of tests, test your limits and challenge yourself?’” she explained. “I think this is something that everyone should give a try, and then you never know where it’s going to take you.” According to the RBC website, the Training Ground Program has tested more than 20,000 athletes in the first 10 years of the program. This year’s national final is scheduled for the fall. With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Galen McDougall
