Whatakid of the Month: Charlie Gibson from Region II

Congratulations to the Whatakid of the month, Charlie Gibson! The Christian Academy of America senior claims Region II as his stomping grounds and has been a member of the THSRA all four years of his high school career. Charlie is a competitor in the team roping and calf roping events; however, he has declared tie-down roping as his favorite.

Charlie has been on a roll this past year as he claimed the number one spot in a number of ropings including the Jr. Roping Fiesta, Vernon West Memorial, fastest calf at the Roy Cooper Roping as well as Joe Beaver’s roping. Charlie also took the 2016 Championship Tie-Down roping title for Region II.

As a home schooling student, Charlie dedicates most of his time to the sport of rodeo. He explained how his typical day starts at 5:30 in the morning with chores, a tie-down practice session, and then he is off to work with his dad to work on welding, building barns, fences and other relatable tasks. After work, Charlie goes home to work on school and begin practice in the arena followed by chores.

“There has to be sacrifices if you want to succeed,” Charlie said. “When my family and I decided to rodeo more, we decided to homeschool… I don’t hang out with friends or watch television; I do school work, practice, work and rodeo.”

Throughout his time as a THSRA member, and a competitor in the rodeo world as a whole, Charlie said he has not only gained great friends and enjoyed the competition, but he has learned the importance of helping and supporting fellow competitors. “In the rodeo world people are different,” Charlie said. “They are people with respect, morals and values; they work hard almost every day and try to be better at everything.”

The work ethic and determination Charlie seems to carry with him throughout his days seem to fall right in line with the saying he claims as his life motto, “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.”

“Being selected to be the Whatakid of the month for our region makes me proud of all the hard work that goes into the rodeo life,” Charlie said. He plans to go to college post graduation and continue his rodeo career on the collegiate level. Until then, we want to congratulate Charlie on being this month’s Whatakid and wish him the best of luck throughout the rest of his high school rodeo career!