Heartland Heroes ARCADIA YOUTH RODEO In today’s society there are many activities that children can be involved in. There are the typical clubs during and after school such as drama, chorus and FFA. You also have activities after school that includes art and various sports which are offered. Then you have activities that take you back in time when many people forget about and one of those is the Arcadia Youth Rodeo. In many cities you don’t hear about such sports because there isn’t room for it. In Arcadia Fla., youth rodeo is flourishing year by year. The Arcadia Youth Rodeo started in 2008 after many children were wanting to do what many of the adults were doing in the state of Florida and across the country. Jim Fussell, now secretary of the Arcadia All-Florida Championship Rodeo Association, decided it was time to start a youth division after many children continued to show interest in the sport. Just to show how much interest was in this division, “the first year there were 75 children in the program which ranges from ages four to eighteen” explained Mrs. Anne-Marie Driggers. Now after six years, the youth rodeo has grown to 150 children. The youth rodeo isn’t contained to just Arcadia, Fla., explained Driggers, and
there are children from all over Central Florida that compete in Arcadia. To prove how big youth rodeo has become, even when parents come to Florida for vacation they call and enter their children into open events while they are visiting. “There have been children from Canada and Mexico that have competed while in Arcadia,” Driggers explained. Parents call year round to register their children and inquire about when the season is going to start. The season runs from Sept. to April every year. The season has six rodeos for the children to compete, in order to qualify for the end of the year rodeo finals. The top ten finalists then compete for the championship. This ensures that children stay involved so that they can compete for the championship instead of just competing in one or two per season. The children are then awarded buckles as their prize that they can show to family and friends for all of their hard work and dedication to youth rodeo. Now you are probably thinking that these events are expensive for the children and families to be involved in. This is the farthest from the truth. The parents pay an entry fee of $25 for each event their children competes in. Of this $10 goes back into a prize jackpot for the children
Calf rider Wyatt Duyn waves to the crowd.
which helps them with purchasing the equipment they need to compete. Because the Arcadia Rodeo owns the arena that is used, the youth rodeo doesn’t have a lot of overhead expenses. The Arcadia Youth Rodeo is also able to get sponsors for their eleven teams, saddles and buckles as well. The rodeo also has about thirty volunteers who help out with the events, stock contractors, gates and running the chutes. This is a great way for the community and parents to give back to the children. The Arcadia Youth Rodeo has a board of directors that consist of 12 to 15 members and most of them have children that are involved in the rodeo as well. These members ensure that there is a schedule of events for the children as well as everything else that they may need to learn and compete at a higher level. Many of the children that age competing in the youth rodeo go on to compete in
Bronc rider Justin Mills shown in action during his exciting ride.
48 | April May 2013 Heartland
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