My Mission

My goal is to give non-traditional athletes – especially rodeo athletes a way to improve themselves outside of training based in traditional sport. All sport is different and requires vast knowledge in not only exercise physiology but also movement and need for the specific event.

Where heavy squats and pulls can be good for the power based athletes, increased body size does not help the cowboy, especially those in the rough stock events. This is where it is crucial that the athlete understands not only their sport but what the training will do to and for them. My mission is to create specific programs for each rodeo event as well as programing to follow along with where the athlete is in their training year. While no other sport trains the same all year long, why should we as rodeo athletes?

Finally I want to base my programs around correct movement and training timelines. Correct movement prevents injury. When you make your money competing you do not have the ability to take time off. When you don’t move correctly your body will wear out quickly and you will be injured. When chronic incorrect movements continue they become overuse injuries and the athlete looses their edge. This along with improper workouts at incorrect times pulls the athlete from competition, or at least decreases their effectiveness to compete. I will never program to push an athlete past where they need to be in their competition timeline. Competing at 100% is goal, not training there!

About Me

I was raised on a Purebred Simmental ranch in southern Missouri. I roped 3-4 times per week and thought that rodeo was the greatest sport of all time. All I did was dream of someday going to the NFR. At a young age of 12-13 I was introduced to Justin Sportsmedicine Team and fell in love with the concept of helping cowboys. Push forward to high school I was a multi-sport athlete playing both sides of football, baseball and some track and field. At the age of 15 after making the move to take over our family farm in Southern Illinois, I had to make a decision to purchase a new roping horse or try to compete at football. Not understanding how big football players were I chose football. After my senior season I realized any ability to play sports in college was going to be at the Junior College or NAIA levels. Knowing that this was not the route I wanted to go and that I would miss sports in college, I purchased my first Barstow Bareback riggin and tried to start bareback riding. Most of my highlights were of me hanging off the side of a horse or blowing out on the 2nd jump. I guess this is what happens when you try to teach yourself.

I continued to attempt to ride through college at Eastern Illinois University until close to my senior year when I decided that I would stick with the sports medicine side of things. I graduated with a degree in kinesiology and sport study with concentration in athletic training. My time at eastern was pivotal in developing me as a practitioner. We had several strength and conditioning based classes that put a understanding to how S&C could help me prevent and comeback from injury.

I was able to then move to Texas State University for my graduate work where I was lucky enough to get to work with some bad-ass strength and conditioning coaches. They continued to advance my understanding as well as love for what S&C could do to make my job as the athletic trainer easier. At my first job from school I was the athletic trainer that was always lifting. Due to this I was asked to take charge of the strength and conditioning for the colleges women’s soccer team. In that year, along with changes in coaching, we took the team from a 1 & 14 season to a 15 & 1 season making it to region game. What truly resonated with me was that we went from 5 ACL injuries to 1 contact ACL in a freshman that I had not worked with.

Since then I have worked in several settings including 5 years in D1 football and multiple clinics throughout Texas. After 9 years of volunteering with Justin Sportsmedicine Team I have become a part time program manager covering up to 25 of the biggest PRCA rodeos a year. I also work with Methodist Hospital in San Antonio, Texas as an athletic trainer and developer of education content for athletic trainers. I coach 2 group workout classes at the San Antonio Thousand Oaks YMCA twice weekly and in my free time I work with general population up to competitive athletes and even teams. Because of my understanding of movement and sport requirement I have worked with field sport athletes all the way up to synchronized swimming teams.

I hold several certifications in athletic training as well as strength and conditioning. I am Board of Certification – Athletic Training Certified, Licensed Athletic Trainer in the state of Texas, a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association as well as hold my Level 1 Crossfit certification. All programing will be based on a performance platform to increase strength and performance while preventing injury.

SR