Former Cochrane Lion Cooper Barden is in the running to join Team Canada, in a sport he never considered.

Barden, a 15-year-old football and rugby player from Bow Valley Secondary School, caught the attention of Luge Canada scouts at an RBC Training Camp event in Calgary in March and has now been named l one of the program’s national finalists.

RBC Training Ground is the official pan-Canadian talent search program of the Canadian Olympic Committee, designed to identify and fund future Olympians.

“After meeting Cooper and seeing his basic test results, we invited him to a camp at Ice House to see if he might be a good candidate for luge,” said Mike Lane, junior national head coach. of Luge Canada. “He learned the new skills of sledding very quickly, so we’re excited to see where this takes us.”

This year, 2,200 athletes (aged 14-25) from a wide range of sports competed in free local qualifying events across the country, performing tests of speed, strength, power and endurance in front of Olympic talent scouts to find the sport they are best suited for, or get a funding boost in their existing sport based on their raw physical abilities.

The top 100 players considered to have high Olympic potential will now compete in the RBC Training Camp national finals on December 2 in Toronto. Thirty athletes from the finals will earn funding, a spot on Team Canada with one of twelve partner national sport organizations, and an accelerated path to the Olympic Games.

Barden won gold as a receiver with the Zone 7 football team at the 2023 Alberta Summer Games and plays for the Cochrane Lions.

“I love the speed of sledding, and the daily challenges bring me learning a new sport,” Barden said. “I’m really excited to meet current and former Olympians at the national finals, go to Toronto and experience a new sporting experience.”

During the RBC Training Ground National Finals tests, athletes’ speed, power, strength and endurance will be retested against sport-specific high performance criteria, under the supervision of the RBC’s sport partners. program. An athlete’s anthropomorphic measurements (height, wingspan, etc.), sport-specific testing (conducted after the qualification stage), and competitive sporting history also play a role in funding selection.

The finalists, whose transportation, hotel and food will be covered by RBC, will be joined at the final by RBC Training Ground alumni and Olympic medalists.

The 30 athletes selected for funding will be announced in early 2024. Funding is administered by the participating national sport body who integrates the athlete into their system and is used for things like training, transportation, travel , equipment and nutrition. NSO partners include Boxing Canada; Canoe Kayak Canada; Climbing Climbing Canada; Cycling Canada Cycling; Freestyle Canada, Luge Canada; Rowing Canada Rowing, Rugby Canada; Speed ​​Skating Canada; Triathlon Canada; Volleyball Canada, Boxing Canada; Climbing in Canada; Triathlon Canada; and Wrestling Canada.
The full list of 100 finalists is available at RBCTrainingground.ca in the community/news section.

Now in his 8^th Each year, RBC Training Ground is a national talent identification and athlete funding program dedicated to finding and supporting the next generation of Canadian Olympic athletes. Since its inception in 2016, the program has tested 13,000 athletes at free local events across Canada, nearly 2,000 of whom have been identified by partner NSOs as having Olympic potential.

Thirteen RBC Training Ground athletes have competed in two Olympic Games and together they have won seven collective medals. Kelsey Mitchell and Marion Alumni Program Thénault are among the medalists, who had never tried their Olympic sport before showing up at an RBC Training Ground event.

A new season of RBC Training Camp will launch in early 2024. Visit RBCTrainingGround.ca for more details.