Everly teen practices way to nationals

(Photo submitted) 2009 Clay Central-Everly graduate Jared Thompson shown wrestling a steer at the Marshalltown High School Rodeo, held this spring. Thompson will compete in the National High School Finals Rodeo, July 19-25, in Farmington, N.M.

It's what Jared Thompson plans to rely on as he competes in the National High School Finals Rodeo, scheduled from July 19-25 in Farmington, N.M.

The rural Everly teenager will be competing in the steer wrestling and team roping events there.

While some of the state champion high school rodeo riders he'll be competing against will have the goal of landing a college athletic scholarship, others will be hoping to win some of the $200,000 in prize money up for grabs.

Thompson is among the more than 1,500 individuals who'll travel to nationals to have some fun with something he's passionate about and receives a "rush" from.

The 19-year-old natural didn't gain his rodeo skills through any organized group. Instead, Thompson earned them through many nights of practice in the family barn with his father, his older brother Dan and family friend Irv Maaland of rural Moneta. Thompson's uncle, Jason Roseland of Marshalltown, has also been instrumental in fine-tuning his talents.

Thompson started team roping as a fourth grader. His father, Kendal Thompson, who became an accomplished team roper in his own right following his days at South Dakota State University, introduced him to the rodeo event.

Today, Thompson would encourage others interested in pursuing this particular rodeo activity to start at a young age and to do as he did, attend a Walt Woodard team roping clinic.

"In the roping, everybody starts young. It's like T-ball," Thompson said. "Team roping would be the T-ball of rodeo because there are no physical requirements. Everybody just starts when they're young so they can get better. So, if you want to keep up with the competition, you'd best start young."

It didn't take long before the youth picked up a few more rodeo events. Thompson's uncle taught him how to bulldog, also known as steer wrestling. Over the last several years the Everly steer wrestler has continued to visit Roseland once a month, receive feedback on his approach and then return home to practice what he's learned.

"For steer wrestling, make sure you practice around somebody who knows what they're supposed to do," Thompson advised. "I've been fortunate enough to have my uncle Jason. He's been a (Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association) steer wrestler and he was great at it."

Roseland also introduced Thompson to chute dogging as a sixth grader. Similar to steer wrestling, participants in this particular rodeo event hold onto a steer by the horns as it runs from a bucking chute and then try to throw it onto the ground. The 220-pound Thompson, who now practices this with six longhorn steers his family has leased from a Marshalltown rancher, laughed as he recalled, "Back then I didn't throw as big of steers as what I do now. I was throwing down Holsteins with plastic horns then."

By his seventh grade year, Thompson knew wholeheartedly that rodeo was what he wanted to do.

He added calf roping to his rodeo repertoire while enrolled as a Clay Central-Everly (CCE) High School student. While Thompson's dad taught him a few tricks of the trade, the student picked up more on his own, as well as through his attendance at two calf roping schools.

As passion develops, Thompson advances in rodeo competitions

Youth rodeos turned into the more competitive Iowa Junior High Finals Rodeo. Held in Osceola his eighth grade year, Thompson competed in the chute dogging and team roping events. He won the chute dogging category and was named the competition's All-Around Cowboy.

Throughout his high school career, Thompson competed annually in 10 high school rodeos, as well as another eight open rodeos around Iowa.

He advanced to compete in the Iowa High School Rodeo State Finals last month. There, he won Reserve All-Around Cowboy honors, third place in steer wrestling, fourth in team roping with partner Wil VanHill of Inwood and ninth in calf roping. For these achievements, Thompson earned two buckles and two chairs. The Everly teen, who was awarded another buckle for his All-Around Reserve finish, admitted he wasn't surprised with this specific honor because he knew he'd roped and bulldogged well during the recent state finals competition.

"My focus throughout the week had really been on the team roping and making it to nationals in team roping," Thompson said. "So, I never really thought about the All-Around (honor) until the awards ceremony."

Meanwhile, as he prepares for nationals, Thompson acknowledges his parents, Kendal and Janice Thompson, uncle and family friend have been among his most avid supporters.

But rather than relying on a good luck charm, he plans to place trust in his talent, which has been amassed through hours and hours of practice.

"When you're at a rodeo, you have to get nervous. But in order for the nerves and the focus to come, you need to have confidence that your preparation has been complete. That's where the practice comes in," he said.

Thompson also plans to utilize two horses: One for steer wrestling, the other for team roping.

"The thing about rodeo horses is it doesn't matter whether they're papered or not. They've just got to be real athletic. That's the most important thing," he said.

Thompson also acknowledges that Justin Zwiefel, a rodeo traveling partner who hails from Burt, is one of his biggest competitors. Their friendship in and outside the show ring has evolved over the last four years on the high school rodeo circuit.

"In rodeo, you're not competing against other people, you're competing against the steer and a clock. That's the mentality. Because when you're busy thinking about what other people are doing, it's just too much to think about. So, you just need to think about the steer and the clock. But I don't shed a tear when Justin Zwiefel misses a steer," he confided with a laugh. "I think he pretty well knows that, too."

After traveling to the national competition in New Mexico this week, the two men will find themselves competing in the steer wrestling, team roping and calf roping categories. Thompson chuckled again as he said Zwiefel will probably be told, "Do good -- but not too good" before an event. But VanHill, Thompson's team roping partner, will more than likely hear, "Git-r-done!"

Following the national competition, the teenager has a career to fall back on. The 2009 CCE alumnus, who graduated May 1 from Heartland Horseshoeing School in Lamar, Mo., is a traveling farrier who currently operates his own horseshoeing business from his parents' Everly farm.

When pressed on what his plans may include following college -- Thompson will attend Western Oklahoma State College on a scholarship, ride on the rodeo team while a student there, and pursue degrees in business and rodeo -- he quietly stated he'd like to take his passion and rodeo skills to the PRCA level.