Rounding up students with roping round robin
The night of Feb. 11 was one that was marked in the books, literally.
Texas A&M University-Kingsville’s (TAMUK) rodeo team hosted a dummy roping round robin event at Mesquite Grove during which students could participate to win a prize at the end of the night. Registration was five dollars for a chance to take turns being a header and a heeler at the all-night event.
“I’m looking forward to seeing some unfamiliar faces. This is a lot less intimidating than something out in the rodeo grounds, so it brought more people out. I’m already having a good time with it,” senior rodeo team member and round robin participant Joshua Guerra said.
The event had a large turnout, including students who were new to roping and those who were experienced. There were also many students who went to watch but did not sign up to participate. The rodeo team hopes that after this event, during which students could learn the basics of roping, those who were interested in trying will sign up next time.
“The purpose of the event was to bring more people to the team if they want to but mainly to hang out and have students see what it’s all about,” sophomore Vice President Ricky Herrera said.
The round robin itself was a lengthy process that included a steer head roping dummy, a book to mark times down and an endless amount of ropes. “We have the headers and the heelers. On the head side they go with every heeler, and on the heel side they go with every header, so it’s a really long process but each one goes to the other side every time,” senior President Jordan Stepan explained.
Prizes for the event included two insulated Kodi tumblers, one for both the header and heeler, customized with a TAMUK rodeo champion header and champion heeler sticker.
There is a rodeo club and a rodeo team. The team competes for the school and the club does not. There are also members who are part of the club and not the team.
“I rodeo, but not for the school. My buddies and I choose local ropings to compete in. We have members who compete in the college rodeo districts and members who don’t compete at all,” Guerra said.
Stepan explained why the hosted event was important for the organization.
“This is a perfect example of how members who aren’t as involved can get involved by coming to events like this where they can learn how to rope, be around livestock and just learn the basics of rodeo.”
The planning for the full night of roping took about three weeks and it took a few days prior to the event to solidify everything. The rodeo club had to scout a good place on campus that had good lighting at night, get banners made in advance and find a good day that worked for the majority around testing to successfully host the round robin. The event was a fundraiser and registration fees will go toward improvements of the facilities to maintain and accomplish the upkeep.
“We want to paint the arena silver, get plywood and fix the arena floor and overall, just upgrade and make it look nice to bring more people in,” Herrera said.
The event lasted a few hours until the champion header and heeler were announced. Students were seen practicing beforehand, laughing and overall having a good time and meeting new people.
“You don’t have to have a horse, you don’t have to know how to rope, you don’t have to know anything as long as you want to learn, they’ll teach you. If you want to learn or if you just want to go and hang out there’s always people there,” Herrera said.
The rodeo organization plans to have many more events like this in the future. The club is open to all students no matter their major, classification or agricultural experience. TAMUK’s rodeo team holds meetings the first Tuesday of every month.
Students can join both the rodeo team and club through the collegiate link online or by contacting Stepan at jordan.stepan@students.tamuk.edu.