Axewomen Rugby's Grace Pinch makes Olympic talent search final

TORONTO, ON - Grace Pinch of the Acadia women's rugby team has been named a finalist in the Canadian Olympic Committee's annual, cross-country talent search.

The search is called RBC Training Ground.

Over the past several months more than 4,000 athletes from a wide range of sports participated, performing core speed, strength, power, and endurance tests for review by talent scouts from eight different Olympic sports.

The top 100  deemed to have great Olympic potential, including Pinch, will now compete in the RBC Training Ground national final, with the chance of being one of 30 athletes to earn funding and an accelerated path to the Olympics.

Pinch, who is from Gaspereau NS,  is currently in her first year at Acadia and a member of the women's rugby team at the school.

"RBC Training Ground is designed to help fill Canada's Olympic sport talent pipeline, and provide NextGen talent with the high-performance sport resources needed to reach podiums," said Evan MacInnis, Technical Director, RBC Training Ground. "Some of the athletes who participate in RBC Training Ground, like Grace, are looking to reenergize or boost an Olympic dream in a sport they are participating in. Others participate with the hope of being discovered and directed toward an Olympic sport they may have never considered. But they all rely on raw athleticism to impress our sport partners and compete for funding."

During RBC Training Ground National Final testing, athletes' speed, power, strength, and endurance will again be tested against sport-specific, high-performance benchmarks over the course of a few hours under supervision of program sport partners and in individual or small group formats (as local COVID 19 safety protocols allow). An athlete's anthropomorphic measurements (height, wingspan, etc), sport-specific testing, and competitive sports history also play a role in who is selected for funding.

The 30 athletes selected for funding will be announced in early January 2022, following a nationally televised special documentary.

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.

The complete list of 100 finalists is available at RBCTrainingground.ca in the community/news section.

Over the past six years, RBC Training Ground has identified more than 1,400 athletes deemed to have Olympic potential (many in a sport they had never considered). At the recent Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, eight RBC Training Ground athletes competed and four won medals: Kelsey Mitchell (a varsity soccer player until discovered by RBC Training Ground in 2017, Gold, Sprint Track Cycling; Avalon Wasteneys, Gold, Rowing; Lauriane Genest, Bronze, Sprint Track Cycling; Jerome Blake, Bronze, 4x100 Athletics).

The following National Sport Organization partners participate in RBC Training Ground to identify athletes: Boxing Canada, Nordic Combined Canada, Ski Jumping Canada, Speed Skating Canada, Freestyle Ski Canada, Cycling Canada, Rowing Canada, Rugby Canada and Canoe Kayak Canada.

A new season of RBC Training Ground will be launching in early 2022. Visit RBCTrainingGround.ca for details.