6 April 4 - 10, 2024 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Friends in High Places In North Texas rock climbing gyms, special needs kids learn how to overcome life’s obstacles. By Jack Moraglia “I ’m scared,” says Jacob Shaffstall, clinging to the climb- ing wall 15 feet above the ground. He’s a skinny 10-year-old with yel- low headphones on the wall at Movement Gym in Grapevine. “Jacob, I’ve got you,” says one of the three young men helping him climb, attached to the belay sup- porting Jacob. “We won’t let you fall,” says an- other. The third climbs close to Ja- cob, pointing to the next hold to shoot for. Jacob stretches out and grabs it, hoisting himself up. “I’m ready to come down now.” He pushes off the wall and slowly swings down to the sound of en- couraging words. Jonah Shaffstall, just 4 years old and Jacob’s brother, makes his way up the wall only 10 feet, but many times his height. His mom, Amanda Shaffstall, holds her arms up to support his legs, more for comfort than anything: the volun- teer belaying him won’t let him fall. Jonah grabs bright-colored rubber worms at each checkpoint. They guide him and act as mini re- wards with each step. “Rock climbing has brought sunshine to our week,” Amanda says. Days ago, a fire destroyed the Shaffstalls’ home. Everyone got out safely. They’ve been living in a temporary apartment. “We just kept saying, ‘We have climbing this week, we have climb- ing,’” Shaffstall said. The climbing is thanks to United Rocks, an orga- nization that has been a lighthouse guiding the family in from choppy seas in recent times. The local nonprofit helps individuals, mostly kids, with intellectual and devel- opmental disabilities (IDD) rock climb in a safe, community-ori- ented environment. ‘Nobody’s Doing This’ T he walls at Dyno-Rock in Arlington are covered in polyurethane holds, many shaped like animals and dinosaurs. The first climber hasn’t yet clipped in as Mariana Steelsmith and her volunteers wait for the start of an- other United Rocks Sunday morn- ing practice. As families walk in, Steelsmith welcomes each one with high fives and big smiles. She has short brown hair and wears bright blue leggings printed with hibiscus flowers and Stitch, the alien character from Lilo & Stitch. Steelsmith and her husband, Brian, started United Rocks in 2021. There are more than 500,000 individuals with IDD in Texas that could benefit from pro- grams like theirs. The Steelsmiths’ oldest son, Gabriel, 22, used to compete nationally at rock climb- ing. “We love the sport. We love the community, the coaches, the peers; everybody was very influen- tial with my oldest son.” The Plano family’s second son, Jake, was born with Down syn- drome. The family wanted to en- sure Jake, 16 years younger than Gabriel, had the same opportuni- ties their oldest son enjoyed. “I started researching about who’s doing this, creating teams for kids with disabilities,” Mariana says. “And it turned out that no- body’s doing this.” She decided to do it herself. “Jake with a disability and Gabriel with the climbing ex- perience, we basically combined both of them and just created something that wasn’t there for them.” Now, United Rocks has had al- most 500 volunteers and 150 kids participating in the program. Mariana started practices with five families at a gym in Plano. Slowly, more people began showing up, and the organization grew to lo- cations in Grapevine, Arlington and the Design District in Dallas. Now, United Rocks is opening outside of Texas in Englewood, Colorado, and Crystal City, Virginia. In March, the Steelsmiths trav- eled to Englewood for an expan- sion event, where 13 kids climbed with 30 volunteers participating. Weekly practices at the Engle- wood facility will start in May or June. “Eventually we want to go ev- erywhere,” Mariana says. “Every gym that has a top rope in the U.S., we want to have a team there.” Cross-country expansion wasn’t always in the cards for the Steelsmiths. “Let’s start a climbing thing for kids with IDD and see what happens,” is what Mariana thought in the beginning stages. “Two years in, this is what hap- pened.” Above the Comfort Zone T he volunteers group up for a pre-practice meeting, go- ing over expectations and which volunteers and kids to pair. The volunteers wear orange shirts, while the head coach and official coordinators wear blue. Everyone has a name tag or their name Sharpied into their shirt. A clipboard tracks each kid’s progress: what has worked in the past, how they’ve improved, who they’ve been paired with. Individualized tracking is im- portant because “each kid is so dif- ferent. What works for one might not work for another,” says Sadie Burt, head coach at the Grapevine Movement location. She has been coaching for about two Nathan Hunsinger Volunteer Pete Glaze assists George Donnelly, 10, in climbing the wall. | UNFAIR PARK | >> p8
