202 Growing up as the son of an ag teacher in Spring Texas, I was heavily involved in the livestock showing industry. Whenever I was nine years old, I entered my first livestock judging contest at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. It was from this point on that I was hooked. Although I did not compete in judging contests more than a couple times a year in elementary school, by the time I reached middle school I knew that this is what I wanted to do. It was in high school where I was fortunate enough to compete on a team that allowed us to compete at contests through- out the year. With my dad as my coach, and my brother and cousin as teammates, going to contest was always a fun time. My parents recognized my love for judging and allowed me to go to several collegiate judging camps that were put on throughout the summer. I attended the TAMU Livestock Judging Camp and the Blinn Livestock Judging Camp, both of which gave a further look at what the future of livestock judging could be like. After sitting through those camps, listening to past and current team members talk about their contests and the success they had, I knew I wanted to be just like them one day. I knew that a major- ity of collegiate judging students attended junior college programs before they judged in senior college, so that was going to be the route I wanted to take. By the time my senior year rolled around, the only colleges in my radar were junior colleges in Texas that had a livestock judging team. I did not really care where I went to junior college, as long as I got to judge somewhere. Fortunately for me, I was able to get a call from the judging coach at Blinn saying that they would like for me to be on their team. After judging at Blinn, I was not really sure where I wanted to continue my career. I knew that I had to stay in the state of Texas to keep my scholarships, but I also knew there were only a couple of schools that took livestock judging as
serious as I did. While trying to decide where I wanted to go, I kept remembering all of the industry leaders I knew that competed for A&M and the winning legacy that they had. I also liked the idea that it was only fifteen minutes further away from home than Blinn was. So, after receiving Boardman’s number and knowing how good of a coach he was, I decided to come take a visit. After discussing what livestock judging would look like as an Aggie and learning more about the history and traditions that were in place, I knew this was going to be my home for the next two years. Fortunately for me, several of my closest teammates at Blinn also decided to come judge for A&M. After finding out how I did at my last contest, there were so many emo- tions that were going through my body. There was a sense of sadness knowing that I had just walked out of my very last judging contest after competing in this event for the past twelve years. I was sad knowing that I would never get to experience the same kind of laughter and stories that I got with being on a judging team. There was a sense of ac- complishment knowing that after all these years, I was able to end my season on the best day that I had ever had while judging. A feeling of accomplishment knowing that the nine-year-old me would have been proud knowing he got to chase his dream of competing on a collegiate livestock judging team and actually be competitive. There was a feeling of gratitude expressed towards everyone that helped me get to where I am today. Gratitude towards my family for supporting me and my love for the game. Gratitude towards the coaches that taught me and pushed me to my limits so that I could be my very best. Gratitude towards the volunteers and industry people that put on and support youth and livestock judging. But most of all, there was a feeling of completion knowing that I was able to end the best chapter of my life thus far on a high note. ●
Powered by FlippingBook