Staying Sharp

Ropers, hope you are doing great and had a successful fall start! The USTRC Finals are over with and now on to Las Vegas if you are planning to compete. I wish all of you the best of luck!
As we move into winter, we are blessed to have many indoor arenas across the country now where we can still put forth the effort to stay sharp. What I would like to discuss with you in this article is just that, Staying Sharp! It does not matter how many clinics or lessons I do through out the year, it easy to see who has continued to put time into the practice pen. All of the articles so far have been about breaking your practices down to execute a sound and fundamentally correct business plan within practicing. How you practice is how you will compete. The one thing that no clinic or lesson will ever teach you is to rope at a higher level than what you are capable of achieving. I have many students that come in throughout the year for tune-ups or wanting to advance to the next level of their roping career. It is so fun and rewarding to see the excitement of those who have been working at it and knowing they are enjoying the sport that much more. When asking them what they have been working on, I continue to hear what we have discussed in previous sessions but always hear whom they have been roping with. Where I am going with this is they have continued to keep their game plan in place and rope with other ropers that rope at a higher level than they do. The first thing that comes to mind is I don’t rope good enough to get invited to rope with “that” person or even practice with them. As long as you think that, you will not get the opportunity. If you believe you want to get better and be around a higher level of roping, then you will. We can lay out the instructions of the sport but roping with someone that pushes you to being better is taken in by sight and sound. If you are around it, you will start to perform and do it. Once we have reached the roping status and moved on from the chute working status, we are all guilty of becoming complacent within our practices. Since we do not do this for a living and want to enjoy the time we get to rope, practices tend to flat-line. If you have the opportunity to work chutes around someone that ropes really good, you will still absorb what is going on and pick things up that will help you within your roping. The most incredible thing to happen in the team roping world has been the handicap system and everyone able to compete on their own level. But, then we continue to remain at that level and go through the ups and downs of being successful. The good days come and go and seem like they get further apart. Keeping yourself sharp by practicing or watching better ropers practice will push you to excelling and doing things you don’t even think about. Remember, iron sharpens iron! God Bless until next time.