‘Diamonds in the rough’ recruited for Olympic sport via Training Ground

“After being done hockey, I didn’t really know what to do. I’m an athlete. I need something to train for,” Broadhead said.

“I’ve been training really hard for a number of years without really a clear direction. Just hoping to find a sport that I can be guided through, have some good quality coaching and see what’s possible. I just need to find the right surrounding environment that’s going to facilitate success.”

In its third year, Training Ground is the brainchild of the Canadian Olympic Committee, the Canadian Olympic Foundation, CBC Sports, the national sport institutes and sponsor RBC.

The program’s goal is to widen and deepen the pool of high-performance athletes by testing and recruiting athletes from all levels of different sports.

“The idea was how do we find those athletes that are off the high-performance grid?” COC chief marketing officer Derek Kent explained

“They are the diamonds in the rough. We need to identify them through some type of mechanism.”

From 32 qualifiers across the country from Victoria to Halifax, those who score well in sprints, jumps and bike tests advance to six regional finals for more testing in a competitive environment in which winners are declared.

Fourteen Canadian summer and winter sport federations now scout those regional finals. The top 30-odd athletes at regional finals receive funding to pursue their Olympic dreams.

Speed Skating Canada got involved in the program for the first time this year, so Broadhead is somewhat of an experiment.

Athletes have gone to speedskating from other sports before and won Olympic medals, including Clara Hughes (cycling) and Cindy Klassen (ice hockey).

“We wanted a well-rounded athlete who knew how to skate,” Canadian speedskating coach Mark Wild said.

“We know speedskating is a difficult sport to grasp because of the complexity of the technique, but at the same time we’ve seen other athletes historically that have been able to make that crossover from different sports.”

Training Ground is open to Canadian athletes between the ages of 14 and 25. The COC says 2,600 athletes have been tested so far in 2018 with seven qualifiers remaining.

The poster child for Training Ground is Pierce LePage. The decathlete from Whitby, Ont., won a silver medal in last month’s Commonwealth Games just two years after winning a regional final in Toronto.

Training Ground can also confirm for athletes they’re already in a sport that suits them.

Lauriane Genest, a 19-year-old from Levis, Que., was an up-and-coming track cyclist when she tested in a qualifier in Milton, Ont., and a regional final in Toronto in 2017.

Training Ground then covered the cost of her travel to Europe in December. Genest made the Canadian team and raced in the Commonwealth Games, where she finished fourth in the women’s sprint.

“RBC paid for competitions and training camps in Portugal and Switzerland,” Genest said. “I was used to training 10 hours per week and then started training five hours five days a week.

“So I improved very quickly and very well. It for sure helped me to accelerate the process. What happened at the Commonwealth Games, racing in Europe helped me with my technique and strategy.”

Training Ground has provided $675,000 in funding to athletes since 2016.

“I’m sure there are a lot of athletes out there that have no idea how good they could be at something,” Broadhead said.

“Having a combine like this in front of all these sporting organizations, I think it’s possible they could find some people who could be world-class athletes.”

Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

‘Diamonds in the rough’ recruited for Olympic sport via Training Ground

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