Hundreds of young athletes took part in the free qualifying RBC Training Ground event in Surrey on Saturday (May 2), which gives them the chance to be scouted for 15 different Olympic winter and summer sports.
RBC Olympians and training ground ambassadors Sarah Nurse and Harbir Sidhu were onsite and spoke to the athletes before warm-ups began.
Nurse told the Now-Leader, “We take young athletes, and they come, and they push themselves to the limits, they test themselves, and they’re here to compete. Obviously, it’s a lot of fun, but there are so many NSOs (National Sport Organizations) and provincial programs that are here recruiting and kind of scouting and looking for the next Kelsey Mitchell.”
Her main message to the athletes, especially the girls and women, was to connect with those in their testing groups.
“I think the most meaningful relationships that I’ve ever had have come from meeting people through sport. So I think that if anything, they’re going to take away is that connection piece and a little bit of confidence that they can come and they can do something athletically and be a woman and girl in sport,” she said.
Hundreds of young athletes took part in the free qualifying RBC Training Ground event in Surrey on Saturday (May 2), which gives them the chance to be scouted by 15 different Olympic sports, both winter and summer. pic.twitter.com/RMSJqkaU1K
— Anna Burns (@AnnaBBurns) May 2, 2026
The participants were divided into groups for their tests, which took place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Cloverdale Agriplex. This event is being held for the 11th year in cities across Canada, and it is the first time it has been in Surrey. There was one in Victoria on April 11 and in Kelowna on April 26.
Andrew Latham, manager of performance pathways at Canadian Sport Institute Pacific, which helps RBC Training Ground run the event, said 315 athletes were registered.
The free qualifying event gives athletes ages 14-25 the opportunity to compete in speed, strength, power, and endurance testing, with the top 100 from qualifiers across Canada advancing to nationals.
From there, up to 35 athletes will be given RBC Future Olympian status and receive funding and resources to further develop in their sport.
Of the 20,000 athletes that have participated in the event, 28 have made Olympic and national teams and have brought home 14 medals, Latham said. During the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics, 11 RBC training ground graduates competed for Canada.
During last year’s event, Surrey soccer player Adam Scott was identified by scouts from Bobsleigh Skeleton Canada. A few months later, he was named to the Canadian Skeleton Next Gen team.
Nurse is a three-time Olympian and said she first dreamt of playing in the Olympics when she was 7 years old, watching the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City on TV.
“I thought that I was the only girl who played hockey, so to be able to see two full teams of women playing on TV, that was a really powerful moment for me,” she said. “I guess I was manifesting it when I was really young, or, really confident, I don’t know, but yeah, that was like, a pivotal moment, just seeing women in that professional setting.”
In addition to playing on the national women’s hockey team, Nurse also plays in the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) for the Vancouver Goldeneyes.