New Season, A Fresh Start, A Different Look.

As basketball and hockey start to wind down a new sport hits the stage. One that is the center of a lot of controversy in our present world. The sport of rodeo. Rodeo is one of the most dangerous sports in the world. It is close to being listed as an extreme sport and some people feel that it should be classified as such. Other feel that rodeo should be banned completely because it is cruelty. In rodeo we rope and tie calves and ride bulls and broncs. That does not make it cruel.If you know what you are doing and you do not intentionally try to hurt the animals then it is not cruel. Cattle and horses are some of the toughest animals ever to be put on this earth. Some associations have been put under tremendous amounts of pressure to stop putting on rodeos and have been forced by animal rights groups to cut out the events they view as the most harmful to animals. These show can no longer be classified as rodeos because they cannot put on a complete event. It is discouraging for competitors when they cannot simply enjoy a sport they love without having to defend their position as a competitor.

As a member of high school rodeo I know just as well as any other rodeo member that there are definitely risk involved in rodeo. Animals do get hurt and there have been cases where animals have to be put down for there injuries. However, in my experience most of the injuries of rodeo stock has been out back in the pens full of animals overnight. I have seen two bulls fight each other until one can  no longer fight. This is the kind of thing that can happen on a summer pasture when they are fighting over which cows belong to whom. Rodeo is not the harm to the animals that some people believe it is. It is mostly the animals own instincts that cause them to become injured. When I was first learning to rope and ride the things that were stressed the most were how to handle the animals so that you did not get hurt, and how to handle the animals so that they were safe as well. Rodeo stock contractors and competitors always try to maintain the highest regard for the livestock they are using. This allows us to have fun for a much longer amount of time. The association I am a member of fines, disqualifies and punishes any person who is abusive towards the animals.

I am excited to begin another season of rodeo. It is one of the most exciting sports in the world. Monica Dickens once said, " If you have it, you have it for life. It is a disease for which there is no cure." When she said this she was speaking about horses in general but her words can be applied directly to rodeo. A lot of the people I know are past rodeo member and they are still living the western lifestyle. Once you become a cowboy or cowgirl and realize that you love it, you will always be a cowboy/ girl. It is a simple fact of this life and also a true one. I am a cowgirl and I am proud of it. I have a upcoming rodeo and will compete just like always because if I compete like I know I can I will not cause any harm to any thing. The livestock or myself.

The end of MY era!

All good things must come to an end but, some things come sooner than others; this is a very unfortunate fact of life. Entering your last year of high school puts a whole new spin on how a person acts and what they do in their everyday life. Once again I played senior basketball, now the year is over and there are many opportunities for players after high school. But before I move on from my high school career I want to explore my memories and experiences that I got from this wonderful sport. I played for six years total and four years of senior ball. It became the teacher of many life lessons. The most important of all: Life is not fair. Even though you may feel you deserve to win and you played better than the other team, this is not always the case. The past six years of my career have been an experience with so many ups and downs it is hard to imagine. I started in grade seven and my team played a whole two games that year. I am pretty sure that we lost too. Grade eight we played more games than grade seven and we were pretty good but still did not have a whole lot of fun. Still I persevered into grade nine. There were seven girls on our team and we finished our league in first place, bad luck at districts left us without a bid for zones but it was definitely a fun year. That year I also was asked to play on the senior girls team. They taught me so much; my dribbling and passing were so much better after that season and I could think in the game; it was great. Grade ten rolled around and I spent most of the time on the bench, but the bus trips were fun and on my end, the escapades of my teammates were hilarious. Between foiled attempts at sneaking out and drawing on the tables at restaurants I learned to respect my coach. Who wouldn't? Not very many people are brave enough to ride for 14 hours on a bus full of girls. Grades eleven and twelve were my two best years playing wise, and I had the best girls on my team. We had a lot of fun off the court and practices were a laugh. On the court however, we did not have a whole lot of fun losing every game last year was very sobering. It taught me to work hard and play hard every game. Things like a good pass and breaking 30 points a game became something to cherish. I learned not to take anything for granted, this year it was much the same. I worked hard and played like it was my last game. It is the only way I know for sure we have a chance of winning.  As a team we had forgotten what it felt like to win a game. None of us liked that feeling and so we played even harder. One season of straight losses really sucked, but it was not going to happen again. In my grade twelve year I helped to lead our team to a season with five wins, most schools would not be very happy with that kind of a record, me I like it like this. It is nice to win all the time, but shows character to lose gracefully, and I for one did not usually  show much grace when we lost a game, but the next one I picked up and played again, as hard as I had in the first.

Sports are one of the best character builders for young adults. Basketball taught me discipline and drive. How to work hard and to have fun. It taught me to work as a team and not take anything for granted. When I started I did not even know how to shoot or dribble, let alone what the rules are. Now I am trying out for college and I know that even if I don't make the team on my first try, I can always work harder and try again. Nothing is final and Life may not be fair but if you work hard enough and play like you mean it every game you try in the course of your life you will win at. So at the end of the season in my grade twelve year I reach the end of an era and the beginning of a life. Now all I need to do is graduate.