ProRodeo Sports News - January 20, 2023

his balky left shoulder, bothering him for a decade, finally gave out, requiring season-ending surgery. The time off was a blessing but has left Kimzey hungry for competition after a recent mind-clearing vacation. “It’s been a different experience to say the least. Honestly, it was what I needed. It gave me a break, time to let my body heal up. I feel better now than I probably have since 2017. It gave me time to enjoy life especially with welcoming Mr. Steele (infant son) into the world last year,” Kimzey said. “But now I feel ready to go. I am nervous for a competition for the first time in 10 years. It has rekindled the flame.” Like Kimzey, Mauney became familiar with surgery. Google his achievements and amazing victories and gnarly injuries pop up. Mauney finished the 2021 NFR in 12th place, disappointment clouded by pain. “I was asked at the NFR, ‘Do you still want to come out here?’ And I said, ‘Yes. I came here to ride 10 bulls.’ And a lot of people thought it was my head that I hurt with that bull knocking me out. Man, I have been knocked out and stitched up so many times, that didn’t bother me,” Mauney said. “A lot of people didn’t know I had messed up my (right) groin so bad that I was riding one-legged for most of the competition.” In hindsight, Mauney, 36, should have had an MRI after the NFR. His body tricked him, feeling good enough to compete after a few months off. The injury immediately resurfaced, leading to surgery in Philadelphia where, Mauney explained, surgeons, “put a plate in and took out a big chunk of bone that was near my artery running through my leg.” The leg responded well to physical therapy, but it wasn’t at full strength when he tore the groin muscle at the Stockyards Pro Rodeo in Fort Worth, Texas, last August. Mauney has nothing to prove in his legendary career, but there’s no way he’s going out this way. “Winning the NFR would be a good way to cap off a good career. In 2021, if I had ridden all 10 bulls, I would have thought about retiring and hanging that bull rope up,” Mauney said. “Since it wasn’t that way, here we are.” Kimzey only feels old when you look at his resume. He has collected more hardware than Home Depot. At 28, he’s ready to begin a new chapter as the hunter instead of the hunted. “It seems like every year the group of young guys gets better; the talent pool gets deeper and stronger. It’s one thing to be great for a year or two or even five. To be at the top of it for a decade is something I am really proud of, especially now the questions surrounding me,” Kimzey said. “I haven’t had too many questions I have had to answer for myself or to the world in my career. It’s reinvigorating more than anything. For sure, the plan at the end of the year is to walk across the stage with a gold buckle in my hand.”

PRCA ProRodeo photo by Phillip Kitts Sage Kimzey celebrates after a ride in Round 9 of the 2021 Wrangler NFR. Kimzey went on to win his seventh PRCA World Championship. He had his 2022 season cut short in June with a shoulder injury.

ProRodeo Sports News 1/20/2023

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