Meet the Member Addie King

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Addie King at the 2018 LHSRA State Finals - Rodeobum.com

Meet the Member Addie King

story by Michele Toberer

As a senior at South Beauregard High School, 18-year-old Addie King is focused on finishing her 7th year with the Louisiana High School Rodeo Association in a strong fashion. Starting out as a 6th grader in the state’s junior high division, rodeo has been a big part of her world, and strong family ties that extends to rodeo family have helped her throughout it all. “My favorite thing about LHSRA is that you get to meet so many people and they all treat you like family and cheer for you. Everyone takes care of you if you need something, and the rodeos are so fun. It’s really great that I get to rodeo with some of my family too. My cousin Kenzie is like my best friend and has been there for me through everything. She cheers me up on my down days and I can talk to her about anything.” Kenzie King is Addie’s cousin, who lives nearby in Iowa, Louisiana and the two often practice together, coached on by Addie’s Aunt Shelly (Kenzie’s mom).
A challenge for Addie, since she was diagnosed 9 years ago, has been learning to manage her Type 1 Diabetes. “It’s challenging when I rodeo, and sometimes it is hard because I’m afraid my sugar might drop when I run. There have been plenty and ups and downs since I found out about it when I was 9 years old. I’ve got a good handle on how I manage it now and want other kids to know that they can do whatever things they want if they learn to manage being a diabetic also.” One thing learning to live with diabetes has also done for Addie, is given her a strong sense of direction for her future. “After I was diagnosed, I knew that I wanted to go into the medical field and would like to go to nursing school. The doctors and nurses were so helpful to me and were always there checking on me. I knew then that I wanted to be able to help others in my future.”
Addie’s parents, Bradley and Miranda King are very proud of their youngest child. Bradley, who works for HMT’s Tank Service, grew up in rodeo as well and was a dedicated team roper for a number of years. Miranda works at Pedestal Bank as a bookkeeper and didn’t have a rodeo background but has no problem serving as the family’s supportive rodeo mom. “My older brother Chance rodeoed also, he team ropes.” Addie competes in pole bending and barrel racing and is grateful for her equine family that she competes on. “Bugs is an 18-year-old sorrel that I run barrels on. He has had two knee surgeries and we had a hard time with him turning the first barrel, so I trained him on poles. Now, he’s turning the first barrel again, so I’m running barrels on him and running poles on my 26-year-old gelding, Dakota. Dakota is my baby, even at his age he’s still very fast and makes clean consistent runs for me every time.”
At school, Addie loves history and is a member of the senior Beta club, and the South Beauregard’s rodeo team which is sponsored by Debbie Reeves, a.k.a. Momma Reeves. “It’s kind of like a social club for rodeo kids. We do a lot of fun stuff; our whole team recently went to watch the RFD-TV American Rodeo together.”
“I’m really grateful to be able to share rodeo with my family. My Aunt Shelly helps me so much with barrels and poles, and my Uncle Don always helps me at rodeos if my dad is judging I really appreciate my mom and dad for all they’ve done for me through my junior high and high school years. They’ve been very helpful and taken me everywhere. My dad is always in the back with me, and my mom is my videographer and videos all of my runs. They are always there when I need them. I’ve qualified for the 2020 LHSRA state finals already, so I’m ready to finish this season strong.”

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Meet the Member Addie King

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Louisiana High School Rodeo Association (LHSRA)