story by Riata Cummings
Roxi Hughes is a 13-year old rodeo athlete and an 8th grader at Enterprise High School. She loves reading and writing for her language arts class, and she loves to relax and play during physical education. Roxi plays softball and volleyball, and her softball teammates are some of her best friends. When Roxi is on the field she usually plays third base and short-stop, and her all-star team plays all over the state.
Roxi is the only daughter of Ramzi and Laura Hughes of Newcastle, Utah, and her eight brothers are Ram, Rio, Riley, Rance, Ryler, Robbie, Ridge and Rhett. They are a rodeo family, through and through, and they spend a lot of time on their ranch. They also enjoy playing football, competing in wrestling and roping goats together.
Ramzi and Laura both competed in high school rodeo, and they met while competing in college rodeo. Roxi and each of her brothers started riding at a very young age, and rodeo is nearly a constant for them. She competes in the goat tying, ribbon roping, barrel racing, breakaway roping and team roping. Lately her favorite event has been goat tying, and her Grandma Rozell and her mother coach her and help her practice. Roxi’s team roping partner is Cael Day, and she ribbon ropes with her brother Rio. Last year, Roxi and her older brother Ram were Reserve State Champions in the ribbon roping and went on to compete at nationals. So far this year, Roxi has qualified for the state finals in everything but breakaway and team roping, but she is working towards a place at state in each of them and wants to qualify for National Junior High School Finals Rodeo in the goat tying.
Roxi competes on two horses; Leo and Double. Leo is a long-time family mount with a sorrel coat and a good attitude, and Roxi uses him for the goat tying and breakaway roping. Double is a dun roping and barrel racing gelding who is smart and always ready to run. In the winter, Roxi practices on the goat dummy and the Heel-O-Matic on the family’s ranch in Florida. During rodeo season she is on her horses nearly every day, usually surrounded by a band of brothers.
Rodeo has taught Roxi the importance of hard work, and she knows that “there is no way to get anywhere without a little work. If you want to be the best, you have to constantly be working for it.” Roxi is fiercely competitive, which has helped her and challenged her in the arena. “When I started competing, I would get really down on myself if I had a bad run or missed my calf. I would get so upset that I would ruin all the progress that I had made in practice. But my parents and my coaches helped me push through that, and now I channel my competitiveness better.” Now her desire to win has become one of her greatest strengths. “I have the drive that it takes to get out and practice, because I really want to be the best.”
One of Roxi’s heroes is her Aunt Milli, who “kept working at her goals even though she didn’t see very much progress for a long time. She worked her butt off to get good and earned every win she ever got.” Another one of Roxi’s heroes is McKenna Coronado, a multiple time Utah High School and National High School Champion, who has been helping Roxi improve her barrel racing. She seeks to emulate McKenna’s giving heart and positive attitude.
Roxi loves that the rodeo community “is all on the same team, even though we are competing with each other. We are all working towards the same things, but we also what everyone to have those things, to have that success.” Another one of Roxi’s communities is her softball team. Last year when Roxi went to nationals to compete in the ribbon roping, her team had to play without her. They cheered her on, wished her the best, and welcomed her back with open arms.
Roxi would like to thank her softball team, her softball coaches, her grandma, McKenna and her brothers for supporting her and helping her improve. She would also like to thank her parents for teaching her the discipline and drive that it takes to succeed in and out of the arena, and for giving her the chance to follow her dreams.
