Toronto – January 10, 2022. Canadian athletes between the ages of 14 and 25 will have the chance to be scouted by thirteen Team Canada sports for free, including Boxing Canada as RBC Training Ground is back for an 8^th season.

Developed in partnership with the Canadian Olympic Committee and Canadian Olympic Foundation, and with support from the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Sport Institute Network, RBC Training Ground is a nation-wide talent identification program dedicated to finding and funding Canada’s future Olympians.

New NSO partners Boxing Canada, Climbing Escalade Canada, Triathlon Canada and Wrestling Canada Lutte join longstanding partners like Cycling Canada and Rowing Canada to discover athletes for their national teams.

At each qualifying event, participants from a wide range of sport backgrounds perform speed, strength, power, and endurance benchmark testing in front of National Sport Organizations (NSO) partners. Following the National Final later this year where 100 hopefuls will compete, the top 30 athletes will be selected as RBC Future Olympians to receive funding, mentorship, and other resources to pursue their Olympic dreams.

“Boxing Canada proud to join the RBC Training Ground program, and we look forward to an exciting year of activities across the country,” says Kraig Devlin, Interim High Performance Director at Boxing Canada. “Boxing Canada will use RBC Training Ground not only as a talent identification program, but also as a talent confirmation initiative. All amateur boxers between 14 and 25 years of age are encouraged to register for their local Training Ground qualifying event to see if they have what it takes to be designated as one of the 30 RBC Future Olympians.”

In addition to the 17 free qualifying events, in 2023 RBC Training Ground will also host custom testing events for North American Indigenous Games (NAIG) provincial delegations, including Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Quebec, as they prepare for NAIG 2023.

Since its inception in 2016, RBC Training Ground has tested 12,000 athletes across Canada, with more than 1,600 athletes being identified by National Sport Organizations as having Olympic potential – many in a sport they had never considered. Thirteen athletes who were discovered and funded through RBC Training Ground have competed at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and Beijing 2022 Olympic Games, bringing home a collective seven medals.

Registration and the most up-to-date event information for all local RBC Training Ground events is available at RBCTrainingGround.ca.

Posted on: January 10, 2023