ProRodeo Sports News - March 23, 2018

NICK L A DUKE was following him because I knew he was all about animal husbandry and he knew a little bit about livestock, and because he pursued his fight career on the highest forum that there is for MMA.” O’Reilly, who rodeoed back home in Australia throughout his childhood and into his high school years, is pivoting away frommixed martial arts with the hope of soon obtaining his PRCA card. Given O’Reilly’s sudden career change, he needed some guidance. In stepped LaDuke.

enthused, but he can also bring that energy back down when he needs to be serious.” LaDuke has become one of the most important cogs within the PRCA’s youth initiatives. Julie Jutten, the PRCA’s Director of Industry Outreach, says that LaDuke’s various roles have served as a priceless

addition to her department’s execution. “Kids are drawn to his gregarious personality,” Jutten said. “He has the ability to engage with every student who attends an event, no matter their level, interest or knowledge of the sport of rodeo. He loves the sport of rodeo. He has had ups and downs, and he truly wants to help kids get going in the right direction by using his rodeo career as a teaching tool.” In LaDuke’s mind, instruction isn’t necessarily the most important aspect of coaching aspiring rodeo athletes. His approach has more to do with passion. “I think people remember energy first,” LaDuke said. “The biggest part about those camps is to remember to keep it simple, but to keep the energy ready to roll.” A California guy through and through, LaDuke is in the process of constructing a new home in the Bay Area. There, he has plans to not only build upon his best season of rodeo, but perhaps take his game –and others’ – to new heights. “I’m going to put in a whole rodeo facility and an equestrian facility there,” LaDuke said. “I’ll be able to be fully in-

“Nick’s helped me a lot,” O’Reilly said. “He’s such a happy-go-lucky guy that I think people who know him on that level don’t understand how deeply Nick thinks about rodeo and all the little parts of it. He’s a true professional.” The former welterweight was in the company of LaDuke in the middle of March where the two, along with other PRCA cowboys such as Jacobs Crawley, were working a youth camp at Hidden Springs Youth Ranch outside of San Antonio. There, O’Reilly saw LaDuke in his element. “The most impressive thing about Nick and what makes him so great coaching kids is his ability to control the energy of the space,” O’Reilly said. “He can lift the energy and get everyone really excited to keep the kids

house with all the camps that I’ve done. This new facility I’m building will have a full-scale rodeo gymnasium, a workout facility and a bucking facility. The higher up the chain that I’m crawling now in life, financially in rodeo, is all going back to putting together a training camp for rodeo that’s represented at the highest level.” When speaking about the RNCFR and the chance to compete for a purse of more than $700,000, LaDuke said he was prepared to ride some of the ranker broncs in the industry. He embraces the challenge. But his tone changed when discussing the other aspects of the RNCFR. The kind of things that go unseen. “I’m looking forward to some of the other stuff,” LaDuke said. “We have some other things outside of rodeo that I’m excited to help with, things with the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund and whatever industry outreach stuff we have going on. I’m just as excited to go down there and do that stuff as I am to ride bucking horses.”

Saddle bronc rider Nick LaDuke rides Flying U Rodeo’s No. 090 at the Brawley (Calif.) Cattle Call Rodeo on Nov. 11, 2017. Gene Hyder photo

ProRodeo Sports News 3/23/18

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