Climbing wall for Calgary immigrant and refugee youth created to increase access to sport

Climbing instructor Coralia Sevilla says she would have loved a facility like the new colourful climbing wall at the Centre for Newcomers when she was a kid with immigrant parents.

"It takes me back to when I was a kid and that first generation experience of helping our parents through paperwork, going to office buildings, and there was never really a space for kids," said Sevilla.

The new climbing wall is about opening doors and providing some relief and much-needed fun for newcomer kids.

"This would have brought a weight off my shoulders and let me be a kid in the moment when something was so serious for my parents," she said.

The project is also about increasing access to the sport of climbing and promoting diversity within the sport and climbing community.

Sevilla says coming to a new country with new customs and so much to learn, being exposed to a new sport can offer so many rewards that might not seem obvious at first.

"It could be the touchstone to feeling OK in the mountains and bridging that gap of playing here and playing out there," she said.

She added she hopes it helps newcomers fall in love with Alberta's natural beauty and find their place in it.

However, Sevilla says climbing might not seem very inclusive for many newcomers, for many reasons.

"There are barriers, financially speaking, and there are cultural barriers. There's a lot of language involved in climbing, and when I first walked into a climbing gym, I didn't see people like me," she said.

Sevilla says exposing more kids from different backgrounds to the sport can add diversity to the climbing community and make it more welcoming for future generations.

She says the benefits of getting that first taste of climbing are many, from improving mental