Former Cochrane Lion Cooper Barden is in the running to join Team Canada, in a sport he’d never considered.
Former Cochrane Lion Cooper Barden is in the running to join Team Canada, in a sport he’d never considered.
Barden, a 15-year-old football and rugby player at Bow Valley High School, caught the eye of scouts from Luge Canada at an RBC Training Ground event in Calgary in March, and has now been named one of the program’s national finalists .
RBC Training Ground is the Canadian Olympic Committee’s official cross-country talent search, designed to identify and fund future Olympians.
“After we met Cooper and saw his core testing results we invited him to a camp at the Ice House to see if he could be a fit for Luge,” said Mike Lane, Junior National Head Coach, Luge Canada. “He picked up the novel Luge skills very quickly, so we’re excited to see where this goes.”
This year 2,200 athletes (aged 14-25) from a wide range of sports who participated in free local qualifier events across the country, performing core speed, strength, power and endurance tests in front of Olympic talent scouts to find the sport for which they are most suited, or earn a funding boost in their existing sport based on their raw physical abilities.
The top 100 deemed to have great Olympic potential will now compete in the RBC Training Ground national final on December 2 in Toronto. Thirty athletes from the final will earn funding, a spot on Team Canada with one of twelve partner National Sport Organizations, and an accelerated path to the Olympics.
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 like the speed of Luge, and the challenges each days brings in learning a new sport,” said Barden. “I’m really excited about meeting current and former Olympians at the National Final, going to Toronto, and enjoying a new athletic experience.”
During RBC Training Ground National Final testing, athletes’ speed, power, strength, and endurance will again be tested against sport-specific, high-performance benchmarks under supervision of program sport partners. An athlete’s anthropomorphic measurements (height, wingspan, etc), sport-specific testing (conducted following the qualifier stage) and competitive sport history also play a role in who is selected for funding.
The finalists, who will have transportation hotel and food 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 early in 2024. The funding is administered by the participating National Sport Organization bringing the athlete into its system, and is used for things like coaching, transportation, travel, equipment, and nutrition. NSO partners include Boxing Canada; Canoe Kayak Canada; Climbing Escalade Canada; Cycling Canada Cyclisme; Freestyle Canada, Luge Canada; Rowing Canada Aviron, Rugby Canada; Speed Skating Canada; Triathlon Canada; Volleyball Canada, Boxing Canada; Climbing Canada; Triathlon Canada; and Wrestling Canada.
The complete list of 100 finalists is available at RBCTrainingground.ca in the community / news section.
Now in its 8th year, RBC Training Ground is a nation-wide talent identification and athlete-funding program dedicated to finding and supporting the next generation of Canadian Olympians. Since its inception in 2016, the program has tested 13,000 athletes at free local events across Canada, with close to 2,000 being identified by NSO partners as having Olympic potential.
Thirteen RBC Training Ground athletes have competed at two Olympic Games, and together they’ve brought home a collective seven medals. Program alumni Kelsey Mitchell and Marion Thénault are among the medal winners, both of whom had never tried their Olympic sport before showing up at an RBC Training Ground event.
A new season of RBC Training Ground will be launching in early 2024. Visit RBCTrainingGround.ca for details.
