My biggest accomplishment

Breaking it Down by Speed Williams – August 2024

I’m often asked what my biggest accomplishment has been in my career. Winning one world title was a fairy tale; never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d win eight.

As a 20-year-old from Florida, I made the NFR as a heeler. They had recently moved the NFR to the Thomas & Mack in Las Vegas. Years prior it had been in Oklahoma City with a much different set up. A bigger building with a longer score and it fit many of the guys who were rodeoing at the time.

I came home from that NFR and told my dad I wanted to head because I could see a lot more room for improvement in the heading than the heeling. It took a few years to accomplish that, and my dad never admitted that I made the right choice. He always thought I was a better heeler than a header. After I won my first gold buckle, I took his 1964 Saddle Bronc gold buckle off his belt and put mine on his belt. I didn’t know for sure I would win more, but I wanted him to have my first one. I was fortunate to win a few more.

My goals changed dramatically once I had kids, and I was fortunate to find a way to make a living. I no longer wanted to gamble for a living and wanted some security for my family. That’s when I created speedroping.com and my training video library. Creating speedroping.com and giving both private and semi-private lessons at home has enabled me to teach my kids and spend a lot time with them while teaching them horsemanship and roping.

My daughter has had a lot of success with her Breakaway roping even though she’s been dealing with the injury she incurred last October. I think we will see a lot of change to come in the Breakaway event in the next five years. As any sport gets bigger, it inevitably gets tougher.

At just 15 years old, my son became a #9 heeler. That really limits where he can compete. It’s hard for him to win a lot when he has to rope against the professionals all the time. Last summer Gabe heeled for Manny Egusquiza at the rodeos here around home and they won a lot while the top ropers were gone on the pro rodeo trail.

For the last six months we’ve gotten serious about working on his heading. If I can teach him to head at a high level, he can control his future for his rodeo career. A heeler is always dependent on the other guy to do all the work and have good head horses and keep them working all summer and understanding all the set ups at all the rodeos. Heeling can be very difficult if the header does not control his horse and set the steer up correctly. It’s very hard to overcome bad handles every day. Heading and heeling are very difficult at the open level but the better the header does to set up the steer the easier it is if the heeler can ride to his position to heel. So, in my opinion if he can learn to do that correctly and learn to control his head horse, he has a better chance of controlling his future but we will see how it goes.

In the last few months Gabe has totally embraced heading. He’s starting to see some light and understanding the different ways to head. For instance, Dustin Egusquiza’s way of heading is impressive and not everyone can do what he does. However, that style doesn’t always work at longer setups like the BFI and Salinas. I’ve worked with Dustin a lot on his short game, but his long game is very unique.

Kaleb Driggers was a lot like Dustin when he first came on the scene. He was a mad reacher and reached all the time. We talked a lot about his short game, and he has come full circle and is now able to do both well. He runs close, sets them up but then again if he needs to go fast, he can drop it and send a long way. He’s learned to have better horses for different situations. At that level you learn there are multiple ways to head, and you need to be able to adapt.

I told Gabe, there’s many different styles and you have to learn to do them all and learn to control your horse. You need to be able to mimic other headers’ styles and learn to do what they do. You have to be able to master many different styles for many different setups. It’s not all about reaching, though there’s no question there’s a time and place for it.

When I was working at both my heading and heeling, I would mimic everyone’s style: short spoke, long spoke, big loop, small loop, etc. and see how each one worked in different situations. People tend to rely on one style and try to make it work in every situation. You’re only as strong as your weakest link. So, if you struggle with catching steers that go right, you need to master that.

We have been blessed here with lots of lessons the last couple months. Young headers who come for a week or two at a time with long days and short nights, and me heeling quite a lot. It’s starting to get a little easier and not as foggy for me as when I’m just playing with it.

Going back to the start of this article and what I think my biggest accomplishment is? Teaching my kids how to make a living roping, deal with sponsors, handle their business professionally, and be good young Christian adults, that means more to me than the eight world titles Rich and I won.

If you’ve raised kids, you can probably relate to how it is dealing with little versions of yourself every day. Often, I find myself telling my kids, “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done that and there’s a better way,” and explain why. Gabe has a series of drills on the Speed Trainer and a series of drills on the ground that are not easy. I always tell my clients we don’t do easy here. At home we try to make it harder so when you compete, you’ll be ready for all the obstacles you’ll run into.