A local gymnastics club is purchasing some parkour equipment thanks to a Columbia Basin Trust grant.
The Selkirk Challengers Gymnastics Club has been offering parkour classes since September 2018 and has been seeing a growing interest in the sport.
“It’s a fairly new discipline to our club,” said the club’s board chair Meghan Edwards. “It has drawn more boys into our club, that has a higher ratio of female athletes. We are excited to have the chance to expand this program.”
The club plans to purchase an obstacle course set and new mats with the $13,556 grant.
The equipment should be ready to use by the beginning of the group’s next parkour session that starts in April.
There are currently 18 kids enrolled in the parkour program, but the addition of the new equipment will allow the program to expand, and also make room for more gymnastics students as the parkour students will move out of the gymnastics space.
“We are pretty excited, and pretty grateful,” added Edwards. “Gymnastics equipment is a lot of money, so the chance to get this equipment is pretty exciting.”
The funding came from the Basin PLAYS (Physical Literacy and Youth Sport) initiative which supports projects that expand inclusive opportunities for children and youth to access a range of recreation and sport activities.
betsy.kline@castlegarnews.com
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