November Article

After roping for a living all my life I’ve taken something on that’s even more challenging in many ways. We had the first official “Speed’s Match Roping” at Lone Star Arena in Stephenville, Texas this month and the response was amazing. Ropers told me they had never had so much fun at a roping and spectators had never enjoyed watching a roping like this before. One participant told me that watching the whole roping was like watching a short round.

When roping head to head there are so many things that can happen. You can miss, break a barrier, rope a leg and still be in the roping – depending on what the team you’re matching does. In the Open there were teams that missed and still got to rope because the team behind them missed too. You might get in a tough match or you might get in an easy match. My goal in creating “Speed’s Match Roping” is to make the roping enjoyable, for both ropers and spectators, without any one roping lasting more than three or four hours.

I’m excited about the response and interest generated, but I now work at a desk for five hours a day before going to the arena to rope. I never guessed sitting at a desk could be such hard work. In the past all I did was rope and it was an all day job. Now I realize how challenging it is to rope when you have to shift gears after working at a desk for eight hours – both mentally and physically. Your mind is in overdrive and it’s hard to shut it off and rope. It takes an incredible amount of discipline to refocus and get the maximum benefit from your practice.

For more information about Speed, including roping tips and video clips, visit www.speedzoneroping.com.

www.fastbackropes.com