News

Still got it

Struggling Coleman vows to turn season around

PUEBLO, Colo. (September 22, 2009) - A perennial Top 10 finisher for much of his 11-year career, Ross Coleman is certainly not content with being ranked 21st in the world standings.

He’s even more disappointed with how he rode the past two weeks – he bucked off five times in a row, something he doesn’t remember ever happening before.

But the 30-year-old from Molalla, Ore., isn’t about to call it a career—not yet, anyway.

“I have thought about retirement,” said Coleman, a day after what he called “a reality check” in Springfield, Mo., “and it will be in the next couple years, I’m sure, but I’m going to keep rolling this year, and the start of next year I’m going to get after it.”

Coleman, one of the few veteran riders to have worked out in a gym for his entire career, said that he intends to hire a personal trainer and plans to get “healthy and stout” in time for the 2009 PBR World Finals.

He said that being physically prepared helps any professional athlete be mentally prepared as well.

“The whole drive home yesterday (to his in-laws home in Texas) we talked about bull riding,” said Coleman, of a conversation he had with a friend of his. “It’s a big mental game.

“I’m going to totally take a turnaround and get mentally and physically prepared. When you do go to the gym and you do work out every single day, and really, really train hard and take care of business, it makes you mentally feel better too.”

Coleman admits there are plenty of things to keep him from the gym, but that he and his wife Amy “made a pact” that he would find two to three hours day to work out with a personal trainer between now and the end of the season.

“If you’re not mentally focused every time, you’re not going to be successful,” he said. “It’s like any other professional sport: You have to be physically fit, first off, and then the more mentally focused you are, the better off you’re going to be, too.

“It’s something I need to get after right now and find the time every single day of life, no matter if I’m ranching, riding horses, playing with the kids or working fixing fence or on a tractor farming, I’m just going to find that two or three hours a day to physically get fit, and once I do that, it’s going to help me out mentally, too.”

With everything going on his life – along with wife Amy, he has two children and two ranches, along with cattle to look after – it will certainly take the effort and sacrifice of the entire Coleman family.

Amy and Ross’ grandparents will have to look after the boys – Cruze and Cooper – and Ross’ father and other siblings will have to help out with the ranches and cattle.

“It’s a great life with the kids,” Coleman said, “but I’ve got find time.

“My wife is my number-one supporter and always believes in me and is always thinking positive no matter what, even after a (bad) weekend like I had this weekend.”

“I was pretty disappointed in my riding,” he continued, “and I’m sure they talked about it on TV. Then retirement talk starts, and you know what, that’s the motivation that I’m going to use, too, in the back of my mind, when I’m at the gym going crazy, just sweating.”

There are two cities in particular that will be driving his motivation at the gym – Portland and Las Vegas.

With an upcoming event in Portland, only an hour north of his hometown, Coleman is determined to remain focused, and winning the Finals event “would be a huge accomplishment” as well as going a long way toward turning things around.

“It’s hard to do sometimes,” he continued, “but it’s what I’m going to do.”

A few more of Coleman’s thoughts

On being 30 years old: “When you’re a little bit older like I am and you’re going to ride bulls for a living, you have to put a lot more time and effort into the gym. When you’re a young buck like J.B. Mauney you can go ride five, six bulls on the weekend, ride bulls during the week and still not even have to worry about hitting the gym as much.”

On whether he still craves riding bulls: “You do … but your mind is elsewhere a lot of the time, where usually all week you’ve been just getting prepared for that next weekend and you can’t wait to go to the bull riding. Sometimes now it’s hard to travel with a family, being away from the family is hard, and also you got a million other things going on at home with your cattle or bucking bulls or ranches. I got two different ranches now, so it’s like nonstop work.”

On being a Top 20 rider: “I’ve gone this whole year and not won an event, and I think throughout my whole career I’ve at least won an event every year, so I have Portland coming up, which is my hometown, and that’s going to get me totally jacked up. I should be Top 10 no matter what every year. I guarantee you there’s going to be a turnaround.”

On the difference between cowboys and athletes: “It’s good to be a cowboy because most cowboys I know are tough. … But you gotta find time to take care of your body and ice, ice, ice, lots of training, lots of lifting and lots of sit ups.”

NEWS and NOTES

A world of hurt: Kody Lostroh is not planning on taking any time off between now and the World Finals—no matter how much his arm hurts. Monday night he said his shoulder is definitely sore, but said that if he stays up over his rope where he’s supposed to be, everything will be just fine. It’s only when he leans back on his arm that the pain intensifies. The Colorado cowboy joked that it seems like his riding “arm is starting to fall apart” on him. However, he acknowledged that he only has to make it through seven weeks. “It’s not like I have a whole season in front of me,” he said.

Doctor, doctor, gimmee the news: Australian rider Brendon Clark spent much of Monday traveling from Springfield, Mo., back to his home in California and is expected to have X-rays of his shoulder taken Tuesday. They will then be sent to Texas for Dr. Tandy Freeman to examine and, according to Clark, he will then speak with Freeman on Wednesday afternoon.

Road to Vegas: All roads are leading to Las Vegas! The Built Ford Tough Series is in Springfield this weekend, but at this time of the season the PBR is all about the World Finals, which is Oct. 30 through Nov. 8. Call 866-PBR-SHOW for ticket information or log onto www.unlvtickets.com to order your tickets for what will be one of the tightest finishes for the world title.

Worldwide leader in sports: After reading all the content – Web features, blogs and Podcasts – at www.pbrnow.com, fans can get even more coverage from ESPN by logging onto www.espnbullriding.com.

Tweet, tweet: Be sure to follow the PBR on Twitter at www.twitter.com/teampbr.

—by Keith Ryan Cartwright