Two Teenagers Hope to Raise $6,000 to Diversify Rock Climbing

High school juniors Conrad Booker and Nyasha Knigge from Trinity School in the Upper West Side love rock climbing and noticed that it has been embraced as a largely white upper middle class sport.

They hope to start changing that by introducing black and hispanic kids from a wider socio-economic backgroung through a program they have started called Rock Roots. They hope to raise $6,000 by July 8th to jump start the diversity drive and so far have raised $2,445 as of Monday, June 19 from their GoFundMe page.

The location of the program is expected to be held in Harlem at 256 W 125th Street at no cost to participants.

Booker and Knigge are competitive rock climbers who started planning for Rock Roots in April 2023 because they both saw extreme underrepresentation in Black and Hispanic kids in the sport. Booker climbs in New York City, and Knigge climbs in New Jersey. “Out of our region of maybe 300 competitors, there’s maybe one to five black or Hispanic kids in the region,” Booker said. “We are creating Rock Roots to get Black and Hispanic kids into climbing. And introduce them to competitive rock climbing to promote and cultivate diversity.”

The title “Rock Roots” came about from “grass roots” with “rock climbing.” “I was thinking about including grass roots in the name and then I came up with Rock Roots,” Booker said.

The program’s expected start time is July 8, depending on funding. Coordinators hope to have it running as an afterschool program once a week in addition to the weekend. The money will cover climbing gym memberships, shoe rentals, chalk bag rentals and possible USA Climbing memberships needed for competitions because it is a costly sport, Booker says.

Booker started climbing after his sister got into it.To compete, he travels to mostly urban areas, but practices at gyms in New York City. “Over the past 10 years, many gyms have been popping up around the U.S., especially the metropolitan area,” Booker said.

Booker and Knigge noticed that rock climbing is a predominantly white sport, and they want to change that. “We want to create a more anti-racist society,” Booker said. “One of the most important ways to do that is inclusion.”

Other likeminded organizations target cultivating diversity in adults but they don’t, Booker says. “What makes us different is that both Nyasha and I are both teenagers. We are entirely run by ourselves, and we are trying to get kids into competitive climbing,” Booker said.

Booker says rock climbing has a lot of benefits beyond just physical fitness. “There’s a huge mental aspect. I think just approaching a bouldering root and just figuring out what to do it just helps with problem solving skills. There’s also a large physical aspect to it to,” Booker said. “Being able to use your physical abilities as well as your mental abilities to through a root is really important.”

The location of the Rock Roots is expected to be in Harlem at 256 W 125th Street, a gym where Booker practices at. “We are building another community within a community. Specifically, we are building relationships with the climbing gym, which is located within the Black and Hispanic community there,” Booker said.

Looking to the future, Booker hopes to get a larger group and other volunteers to get kids of color into rock climbing.

“It’s a worthwhile endeavor that the kids are serious about, and it’s a way for them to pay it forward,” David Booker commented on the GoFundMe page.