Thanks to cultural phenomena such as the hit TV series “Yellowstone” and Beyoncé's “Cowboy Carter” album and tour, rodeo and all things Western are experiencing a cultural renaissance. Attendance, broadcast and streaming viewers are always high. So does prize money, which attracts more and more young athletes looking for a chance to make a name for themselves.
But while rodeo is thriving, athlete development remains outdated.
“The sport of rodeo is decades behind.” said Doug Champion, 36, founder of Optimal Performance Academy, a new rodeo school working to modernize athlete development in a sport whose grassroots roots and culture of rugged individualism have been slow to embrace modern sports science. “It’s always been the ‘rodeo cowboy,’ and we’re just now entering the ‘rodeo jock’ chapter.”
Historically, very little money has been given to support anyone other than the very best rodeo athletes, fostering a culture that values tradition and resilience over exploring innovation in their sport.
“There's a sense of being an outlaw, a renegade, a maverick,” said Cody Custer, now 60, a 1992 PRCA World Championship winner and seminar instructor. “I’m just going to plug in, do my thing and win that thing rather than focus on the organization, team sports, etc.”
Rodeo athletes traditionally come from ranching and farming families who have historically lacked medical care. These communities, according to Champion, rarely saw a doctor and took pride in simply “cowing” despite injuries or health problems. Young riders from these communities never expected or received meaningful medical care or results-oriented care.
“It was just a different way of thinking, no preparation, no taking care of your body, and if you’re hurt or sick or tired, it doesn’t matter because being a cowboy is being tough,” Champion said.
Rodeo athletes are largely freelancers, traveling to competitions on their own dime, hoping to place high enough to fund their next trip and entry fee. The vast majority of rodeo athletes still have part-time jobs.
“Bull riding is a drug. It's the most exciting thing I've ever experienced in my entire life,” said Gabe Martin, 22, of Felton, Delaware, who maintains public and residential ponds during the week and races bull riding tracks on weekends. “It has consumed my life and I just can’t seem to get away from it.”
The Optimal Performance Academy attracts young athletes from all over the country for week-long training camps. The seminars are a mixture of theory and practice. The theory includes advice on nutrition, attracting sponsors through social media, personal finance lessons, and goal setting and visualization. The practical portion of the workshop includes performance testing, rodeo training, practice on bucking machines and two days of riding live bulls.
For my seventh seminar in Decanter, TexasChampion invited the Australian pioneer in VALD, a type of performance testing that uses force plates, dynamometers, motion capture, and ocular and vestibular testing to measure a wide range of key indicators. The idea is to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each athlete, and then build personalized training programs based on this data.
This testing is commonly used in most elite sports at the professional and collegiate level, but this is the first time it has been used for recreational riders.
“The biggest thing we've learned is that there is nothing normal or natural about the body about rodeo, which is physical. No amount of shape or form through regular exercise or daily living will improve your ability to perform in the arena,” Champion said.
The champion, who was a promising young racer in his own right, broke his back in 2010 in a fall from a bronco. His long and painful road to recovery led him to realize how much more rodeo athletes could do to improve their strength and technique while riding, as well as improve their resilience to bounce back from injuries.
“You just had to get on as many horses as you could, because if you get on more horses, you'll figure it out sooner,” Champion said. “Well, I rode 300 horses, and every time my full dick hit the dirt, I didn't learn anything.”
The champion hopes to reduce training time for young riders trying to make it onto the professional circuit, giving them more healthy years to compete and make a living. Rodeo is notoriously hard on the body, with most riders forced into retirement due to injury in their 20s and 30s.
“It's a completely different approach than trial by fire, which was the story of how you learn at the rodeo,” Champion said.
