Northwest's Lee doubles as rodeo calf-roper
When it comes to tackling ball carriers, Chris Lee makes no apologies about pretending the target he's chasing is like the frightened rodeo calf, attempting to escape his rope.
Northwest's Lee doubles as rodeo calf-roper When it comes to tackling ball carriers, Chris Lee makes no apologies about pretending the target he's chasing is like the frightened rodeo calf, attempting to escape his rope. Check out this story on dailyworld.com: https://www.dailyworld.com/story/sports/high-school/2014/08/16/northwests-lee-doubles-rodeo-calf-roper/14164659/
Louisiana Published 2:29 p.m. CT Aug. 16, 2014
Northwest High running back-linebacker Chris Lee finishes a practice in full equipment last week, the first under new head coach Chris Edwards. In addition to gaining yardage and serving as a key defensive player, Lee also spends his time as a calf rodeo on the amateur rodeo circuit. (Photo: Bobby Ardoin/Daily World )Buy Photo
PRAIRIE RONDE – When it comes to tackling ball carriers, Chris Lee makes no apologies about pretending the target he's chasing is like the frightened rodeo calf, attempting to escape his rope.
You catch them and then tie them down, says Lee.
In addition to playing an inside linebacker position for Northwest High, it's not unusual to see Lee at the family farm or at weekend rodeos, perched atop a roping horse and stalking a 200-pound calf who's just sprinted from a lifted chute.
Lee, a 190-pound junior who gained over 900 yards last season for the Raiders, said rodeo is an interest that has been pursued among family members for several generations.
"A lot of people ask me which one (football or roping) I like best. Even my dad quizzes me on that. I've been roping all my life and I guess you could say that it's something that's always been in my heart. Football I like too," Lee said.
If it sounds like football might be secondary in his life, Lee said there's a legitimate reason.
"Roping and horses are something that I've been doing since I was four years old. My grandpa used to put me on the horses when I was small. He'd put us up there and let us ride, so it's something I've been doing all my life," Lee said.
Although it takes a sufficient amount of precision and skill to perfect roping a calf, the burden of a successful takedown has several components, Lee said.
"You've got to have a good horse. If you have that, you can be good at roping," Lee said.
In addition to roping, Lee said he trains horses for that event, a pursuit that often takes six months to a year, depending upon the acumen and mentality of the mount.
Sometimes it also means taking a cutting horse, trained for different events and tempering it into roping, said Lee.
The same goes for the practice calves, Lee said.
You don't want to train on the same calves too often, because as Lee said, they tend to become tamer or in his words, "sour."
Lee said there's a certain aspect of danger that accompanies roping events, but it's something that doesn't overwhelm him.
"A lot of it is dangerous. You have to rope the calf and then get down off your horse, flank it and tie it down. I've been doing it for so long, I guess, it doesn't seem that dangerous, but it is," Lee said.
The Raiders are under a new coach, Chris Edwards, who just officially assumed those duties last week.
Lee said he and Edwards have a special bond that spans several years and supersedes some of the boundaries that might exist between player and coach.
"He (Edwards) was my coach at junior high and we've had a personal relationship between us because of that. I know he's a coach that I have been able to talk about everything and anything with.
"I know so far he has been pushing us harder than we were pushed last year," said Lee.
The Raiders' defense is loaded with returning starters and Lee, Edwards said, is one on the defensive side of the ball as the offense begins to mature.
As an inside linebacker, Lee said it's been easy to apply the same principles to tackling as he does with roping, whose proficient performers can tie down a calf in fewer than seven seconds.
"They both deal with those same aspects: toughness, vision and quickness. In the rodeo the fastest man to tie them down and catch them, that's who wins," said Lee.
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