Time to cowboy up!
BY: TRACEY JAGNEAUX
Sports Editor
In the world of sports, Rodeo is not on the top of most people’s list of major sports. Don’t tell that to those who dare brave one of the most physical sports on Earth.
Especially don’t tell that to the select few Evangeline Parish teens who choose to Rodeo over other traditional sports.
For Ryley Fontenot, Grant Morein, Remey Parrott, Gabe Soileau and Gavin Soileau, the rodeo is a way of life that they choose to embrace. These young men are set to participate in the International Youth Rodeo Finals in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
The IYRF begins today, July 5 and will run through to Friday, July 10. Billed as the “world’s richest youth rodeo”, the 23rd annual event will join more than 1,000 of the top high school rodeo athletes from across the United States as they compete for more than $200,000 in prize money and championship saddles and buckles.
At the IYRF, all of the Evangeline Parish crew will compete in team roping. Fontenot and Parrott will also compete in tie down calf roping. Morein, Parrott and the Soileau brothers will also compete in steer wrestling.
So, how does one come to compete in rodeo, even at such a young age? Just chalk it up to family tradition.
“My grandfather, Guy Landry, used to rodeo professionally and my dad was on the rodeo team in college,” stated Parrott. “I also have a brother who is on the professional tour right now. I saw that they had done it, so I wanted to try it out. I started in the fourth grade team roping and calf roping and when I got to the fifth and sixth grade I began to steer wrestle.” Parrott is a junior at Sacred Heart.
For the Soileau brothers, Gabe and Gavin, it was their dad that influenced them the most in their decision to give rodeo a try.
“My dad introduced rodeo to me,” said Gavin, Sacred Heart sophomore. “He was on the rodeo team in high school and began showing us what it was about when we were young. I think I was 13.”
“Our dad would take us to different rodeo events when we were small,” interjected Gabe, the senior at Sacred Heart. “We just fell in love with it.”
One would think that when a young son comes up to their parents and tells them that they want to begin rodeo competition, the parents would be hesitant, knowing the physicality and potential dangers of the sport. Not so says this group of tough cowboys.
“As a young kid I wanted to be a cowboy,” said Fontenot, a recent Pine Prairie High School graduate. “My family has always been supportive of me. In fact my family was into roping already. I started when I was 13 and it has been full force since then. My parents encourage me every day.”
Morein, the Sacred Heart senior, feels the same when it comes to his parents.
“I grew up on horses and knew that my dad had competed when he was young,” said Morein. “So, my parents were not surprised when I said I wanted to try it for myself. They have always been supportive of me.”
Prepping to travel all over the country to compete at different rodeos takes a ton of discipline and time. But for these young men, it is all worth it, even with the danger of becoming seriously hurt.
“You have a lot of work to do before the competition even begins,” stated Fontenot. “You have to see about the horses and make sure you have all of the gear you need. Once you get to the arena, you still have to make sure everything is in place. It is a lot of work but I love going up and down the road with my friends and getting to see different places.”
“I have had my fibula broken and dislocated my shoulder,” said Parrott with a matter-of-fact tone. “But that just made me want it more. I love the sport and I don’t play any other sports. This is what I want to do.”
That love drives these young men not only to compete on this level, but to hopefully compete on the next level.
However, knowing that making it professionally is a difficult goal to reach, these tough cowboys see the bigger picture.
“I would love to be on the professional tour someday,” said Morein. “But I want to go to McNeese and get my degree in agricultural business and rodeo in college first. It will give me something to fall back on if I can’t make it professionally.”
“After graduation, I plan on going to McNeese to rodeo and get a degree in business,” stated Gabe Soileau. “After that, I would