This year, Blue Valley Northwest welcomes the rock climbing club. Senior Colin Orr is a co-president of this club.
“It’s a slowly expanding thing, we’re not driving for it, it’s just happening,” Orr said.
“I am very excited about the club, because it’s a sport I love and enjoy [to do],” junior Jackson Creason said, also a co-president of the club along with senior Ben Keenan and Orr.
The rock climbing club meets 3 times a week, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., but attendance is optional, and there are no commitments to being in the club.
“Me and Ben Keenan and Johnny Quinn, we bumped into each other at the gym, and we’re like, we should start a club for this, so we can have official times to climb together and invite more people to climb,” Creason said about how the club was founded. They later went to talk to Kyle Farrington, a BVNW English teacher, about sponsoring the club.
To join the club, there is a GroupMe linked on the Instagram account, @bvnwclimbing. Everyone is welcome to come to any of the official meeting days and climb with the group to try it out.
“Just come out and climb; if you like it, you like it. If you don’t, you don’t,” junior Adelyn Dillavou said.
“It’s physical activity and you get high off the ground, so be prepared for heights,” Creason said for the people interested in the club to keep in mind.
The club meets at ROKC in Overland Park, Kan. Many members have their own gear, but you can also rent it. A day pass is $22, not including gear; harnesses are $4 and shoes are $6. Most members of the club purchase a membership that includes fitness classes, an open gym, and free gear.
“ROKC has a really good gym, so sometimes, I do some rock climbing, and then when I’m done, I do a regular workout,” Dillavou said.
The environment at ROKC makes it a place to hang out or work.
“You can meet a total stranger, and then by the end of the day, you’re gonna be friends with them,” junior Everett Ramey said, a member and employee at ROKC.
Ramey said the other workers and climbers at ROKC are accepting and very helpful.
“As long as you want to work on yourself physically and you want to stay engaged while doing it, this is the perfect method to do that,” Orr said.
