My daughter loves to try new things. However, with her physical delays she cannot always try certain things without some help. We were blessed recently to find out about a group called Catalyst Sports. Their mission is to: provide more than just an adaptive sports opportunity but to provide individuals with the new skills necessary for improving life and to build a stronger community.
They host adaptive indoor rock climbing clinics in various cities, and we are lucky that Nashville is its newest chapter. The clinics are to help any child or adult with various forms of physical disabilities. It only started a few months ago, and they are still trying to get funding for the chapter to not have to share specialized equipment.
However, they are not letting fundraising slow them down. They started hosting clinics this fall in the Nashville area. They normally are hosted on Saturday for a few hours. Adults and children of various abilities are able to work with the rock climbing staff and specially trained volunteers to try and accomplish climbing. My daughter loves that there are so many fun volunteers to cheer her on and help her climb higher and better. Plus, she gets to meet new friends of all ages.
My eight year old daughter does suffer from physical delays. She learned to walk at the age of five, but still struggles more with poor balance and lower leg strength than her peers. Rock climbing with the support of the Catalyst volunteers helps her work on those areas while laughing and having a lot of fun. It takes three volunteers to help her while climbing. One volunteer is the person who helps control her safety rope, while the other two volunteers climb on either side of her. The two climbing with her help guide her feet and her hands and offer encouragement when she gets frustrated. It is amazing to watch so many try to help her do something that is normally out of her reach. However, with the Catalyst staff she is literally reaching new heights.
I am so happy our Nashville area is now a part of this amazing organization. I look forward to experiencing the growth of this chapter with my fearless little climber. I encourage any adult and any parent with a physically delayed child to come and conquer a rock wall!! Follow the group on Facebook to keep up to date on when the next climb is scheduled in this area: https://www.facebook.com/catalystsports.
