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Posted on Thu, Oct. 22, 2009 11:02 PM
Help is ready at the rodeo
More News
A week ago in Waco, Texas, Jared Keylon’s bareback ride ended badly.
He got hung up on the wrist rope, dragged through the dirt by the horse and then stomped — right behind his knee.
Before competing Thursday in the American Royal Pro Rodeo’s opening night, the Fort Scott, Kan., cowboy limped toward help — the doctors and trainers who specialize in keeping rodeo cowboys in the saddle.
The Justin Sportsmedicine Team has set up behind the chutes of rodeos around the country for nearly 30 years, with athletic tape, braces and suture kits at the ready.
This weekend, local volunteers join traveling team member Dee Cornell to patch up what they call the toughest athletes on earth.
One night spent with rodeo cowboys and cowgirls hooked Jim Moore of Lee’s Summit, an athletic trainer and college instructor who has worked with athletes from high school to the Denver Broncos.
With adrenaline junkies, hulking bulls and lightning-fast horses, “You just never know what’s going to happen,” said Moore, who’s been volunteering at the Royal nine years.
He recalled one cowgirl whose stitches split after her barrel race — she was riding four days after surgery to repair inner thigh muscles. Moore even has seen cowboys compete with broken bones and concussions.
In a little room just off the Kemper Arena floor, Cornell told Keylon to come back and get taped before riding later that night.
Keylon recognized Cornell from earlier this year in Montgomery, Ala. He’d been thrown into a post, and only with Cornell’s help got the swelling in his shoulder down enough to ride. He made the finals — and some money.
“I was awful tickled,” he said. “I do like these people coming for things just like this.”
American Royal Pro Rodeo
7:30 p.m. today and Saturday at Kemper Arena. Pat Green concert after tonight’s rodeo; Sara Evans performs Saturday. Tickets (for rodeo and concert) start at $15; visit americanroyal.com.
To reach Sara Shepherd, call 816-234-4366 or send e-mail to sshepherd@kcstar.com.
Posted on Thu, Oct. 22, 2009 11:02 PM
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