Murrumburrah High School Student, Tom Ings and his mum Karey have landed in the US after flying out Monday morning from Australia. Tom has been selected to compete in America for the National Junior High School Rodeo Finals and is excited to take on the world’s best. An injury had the possibility of hampering his preparation, however, the Murrumburrah High School student hasn’t let that get in the way of his dream. Tom and Karey left Binalong at 3:00am on Monday morning for the 6:00am flight out of Canberra to make their connecting flight out of Melbourne.
The family have been fund-raising for 6 weeks and Karey said sponsorship money has come in from complete strangers. The fundraising has helped make Tom’s dream possible. The Ings family are very appreciative of the assistance. Tom has been roaming around Rodeos every weekend for the last few years and he started competing 2 years ago in the Rodeo Circuit mostly in the ABCRA 12-14 Year old division and Pro Rodeo 12-18 year division as a Junior Steer Rider.
Tom said “I’ve always liked the sport, this is my passion and dream, I hope to be a professional bull rider one day.” 9 days of competition awaits Tom in Huron, South Dakota. Karey said “We are so proud of Tom. He really gives it his everything.” The National High School Rodeo Association NHSRA was established in 1961 to promote interest in Rodeo sports among high school students and to provide training to the younger generation. With 70 years of Roping, Riding and Mentorship to promote the sport of Rodeo.
The NHSRA pride themselves on being the fastest growing youth organisation with an annual membership of 12,500 students from America, Canada, Australia and Mexico. Tom is one of 8 Australian’s competing in America and he has battled a broken arm to make it to the US. He practices twice a day on a mechanical bull. He broke his ‘free’ arm on May 11 and has just had his plaster off, however, while his arm was broken he has been keeping his fitness up but has been unable to compete in rodeos on ‘live’ steers.
Tom is looking at entering the Jackpot events later on in the program which may result in some prize money for the young cowboy. Tom and Karey acknowledge that Tom’s chosen sport is a little different compared to the regular athletics program at Schools. Tom said, “I’m pretty excited, I haven’t been on a live one for 5 weeks. I just kept going with it when I broke my arm, we were a bit worried at the start.”
Tom doesn’t let the pain worry him when it comes to his sport. Karey and Tom will be posting to Karey’s facebook page to keep everyone up to date with how Tom is going. 8 seconds isn’t a long time in the scheme of things, but its a long time to be on the back of a bucking steer or bull. Go Tom!
