Saskatchewan athletes invited to test their mettle and go for Olympic gold
Not all young athletes in this country live near a bobsleigh track, or a speed skating oval, so Team Canada is on the lookout for top-notch talent for these high profile Olympic sports.
That's the reason behind Training Ground, a annual national tour sponsored by RBC that offers athletes an opportunity to test their fitness and hopefully turn the heads of elite coaches.
Training Ground arrives in Saskatoon Saturday.
It was fun to kind of just test my body in different ways. - Vaughn Taylor
Diamonds in the rough
"What we're trying to do is help those kids see their opportunities," said Kurt Innes, a former Olympic cyclist now with the Canadian Sport Institute Pacific and RBC Training Ground.
Saskatchewan track and field athlete Vaughn Taylor took a run at Training Ground last year when the event came to Saskatoon.
"I realized it's an opportunity that I could definitely just at least try for," Taylor said. "It was fun to kind of just test my body in different ways."
Taylor did well. He was up on the leader board, at times and he caught the eye of coaches on the rugby and bobsleigh teams.
"It kind of like boosted my confidence," Taylor said.
"I'm thinking of maybe dabbling in other sports, just try them out just to see what it's like."
Fast track to gold
When the 100 to 150 athletes gather for Training Ground in Saskatoon there is much more at stake than gaining a little insight into other sports. A good showing can catapult an athlete into a national program designed to put them on the world stage, where they can compete for Canada at the Olympics.
"There's some training support, some coaching support, access to nutrition, sport physiology, sports psychology," said Innes.
Taylor won't be at this year's event. He's busy training and trying to win a spot to run for Team Canada at the Pan American Games.
RBC Training Ground is set for February 23 from 9:00 a.m. CST to noon at the Henk Ruys Soccer Centre in Saskatoon.
