SUNRISE, FLA. (WSVN) – Florida’s first professional bull riding team, the Florida Freedom, has brought one of the toughest sports in the world to the Sunshine State.
The rodeo team made its debut at their first home tournament at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise.
“The Florida Freedom team is just a group of young guys passionate about the sport. They’re hungry to win,” said head coach Paulo Crimber.
Considered the most dangerous eight seconds in sports, it takes incredible strength and courage to successfully ride these massive, short-tempered animals. While some may just be drawn to the sport, it takes years of practice and good coaching to become an expert.
Although this team appears to be in good hands, with their head coach Paulo Crimber formerly holding the number rank in the world of bull riding.
“We got to do our job. Ride our bulls. Then it doesn’t matter where we play. We’re going to beat them all and that’s our game plan,” Crimber is heard saying to his team.
On this team is Paulo’s 18-year-old son, John, he was recently the Freedom’s number one pick in the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) draft.
John started riding bulls when he was 5 years old, thanks to his dad.
“He actually was the one that taught me everything growing up and I just want to be like him and follow his footsteps. So I just watched him and ever since I was a little kid I’ve wanted to be a bull rider,” said John.
With bulls weighing up to 2,000 pounds, this extreme sport can be quite taxing on the rider’s body and injuries are often one jump or kick away, something John says he is no stranger to.
“You know sometimes when everyone is like ‘You better watch your butt on this one’, if you take a wrong move he might get you hooked,” said John.
“It’s happened to me before. I broke my eye socket last year. A bull’s horn went in my eye and I mean, the next week I was getting on bulls,” he said.
Riders holding onto the bull must use one hand to grip the rope. A successful eight-second ride earns points from the judges, which are added to the team’s overall score.
“Crimber converts and he gets the walk-off right here at home,” an announcer is heard saying.
The best bull riders master a tactic in order to stay on for as long as their body can endure, or before the bull kicks them off, whichever comes first.
“When the bull rears you’re supposed to go up with them and whenever the bull kicks you’re supposed to lean back with them. When you don’t do that in order it’s usually when you fall off,” said Connor Halverson, a Florida Freedom rider.
“It’s all new to them and I want to have a group of younger guys and some older veterans in it. But the younger guys the only thing they want to do is nod their head and ride them bulls and have fun,” said Paulo.
Just like any other professional league, there are 10 teams in the PBR, they rack up points during a regular season and the ultimate is to go to Las Vegas in October and win the world championships.
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