story by Riata Cummings
Spikers Rodeo Club President and Fremont High School senior, Kohlmun Sanders is a rodeo athlete from Ogden, Utah. His favorite classes at school include welding and agricultural classes, and he enjoys being a member of the school’s FFA chapter. After high school he plans to attend Weber Technical College to become an electrician and follow in his father’s footsteps.
Kohlmun is the son of Dusty and Shanel Sanders, and has three sisters, Kanzis, Kendee and Kayden. The family enjoys going hunting, fishing and camping together when they aren’t traveling to or practicing for rodeos.
Kohlmun is the product of generations or horsemen and women and started competing in youth rodeo when he was about 8-years-old. His events now include steer wrestling, tiedown roping and team roping. He especially loves the tiedown roping because his father and grandfather competed in the event and it has provided many opportunities for success.
Not long ago, Kohlmun also competed in the bull riding. After recovering from a broken collar bone, Kohlmun was is another, more life-threatening bull riding accident that resulted in an emergency flight to a hospital and more than six months of recovery. The time away from rodeo was hard for Kohlmun, and he made the decision to focus on events that didn’t endanger his ability to continue competing. He participated in sports mental training and hypnotherapy and relied on the encouragement of his family while he was recovering, and eventually made a successful re-entry into the rodeo arena. The experience helped him develop some of his greatest character strengths like determination and resilience.
His rodeo horses are Holiday, a gelding he uses for tiedown, Tank, a gelding he rides in the steer wrestling, and Joe, a mare he uses for heeling in the team roping and as a hazing horse for steer wrestling. Kohlmun practices with his horses every day he can and has found some success throughout his career. As an eighth grader he competed at the Silver State International Rodeo in the breakaway and bull riding, and last fall at a qualifying rodeo he finished 3rd in the steer wrestling and 1st in the tiedown. He has set a goal to continue building points for state finals and to qualify for nationals in all three of his events.
Kohlmun lives by the Henry Ford quote, “Whether you think you can or your think you can’t, you’re right.” To Kohlmun this exemplifies the kind of mindset you must adopt to be successful at rodeo. “If I’m telling myself that I can, I do good. If I’m telling myself that I can’t, I don’t. You have to keep a positive mindset, no matter what.” Another way that he finds success is by recognizing the good in every run, even those that don’t go his way. “Find the good from the bad. Pick out the good and focus on it but leave the bad behind. Have a positive attitude and don’t be afraid to ask for help.”
Kohlmun would like to thank his parents, family, and friends that have supported him and helped him through the ups and downs of rodeo. “Thank you for sticking by my side and believing that I can do it.” He is grateful for the opportunity to rodeo and for those who have helped him down the rodeo road.
