By Sharon Adams
NIRA Alumni members Ted Millgard and Eleanor Powers are Super Volunteers. “I hope I can help students to improve their rodeo skills and be successful with their education goals.” That statement of his own goals as a rodeo coach and mentor comes from Ted Millgard, a member of the NIRA Alumni and volunteer rodeo coach at Walla Walla Community College.
Forty years ago, the assistant coach at Walla Walla Community College asked Ted to help him with a practice session with the timed event contestants. Ted had never been in college rodeo, although he graduated from Washington State University in Pullman. After graduation, he went on to Creighton College in Nebraska to become a dentist. But he was a calf roper and a member of the PRCA, now a Gold Card member, and knew more than a little about the roping end of the arena. Four decades later, Ted is still a volunteer coach at Walla Walla. That statement does not do justice to his impact. Volunteers in any endeavor give of their time and treasure but Ted Millgard gives a bit more – his thoughtfulness.
Ted considers setting goals and working to achieve those goals as vital for success in the classroom and the arena. He quotes Ben Londo’s definition of goals. Londo is a past college rodeo champion and is the current coach at CalPoly. “A goal is something you have purposed to achieve, you are determined to get it. This ensures that you don’t give up. Goals are a point of destination for our brains. Our brains are like muscles, training your brain to win is like honing any other muscle you use.”
With his own goals firmly in mind, Millgard works to help the students think about their own goals, write them down, refer back to them, and strive to move forward. And his advice is as practical and down to earth as arena dirt. “The rope: make it do what you want it to, learn the basics and return to basics often. The horse: the start-learn to score, know the position behind the calf, use of left hand. Ground work: string leg, gathering of legs, placement of string. In the arena mental attitude and conditioning are essential. This spills over to your horses also. I have found that the horse that likes me, respects me and understands what I ask him to do, works better. Note that your horse is usually way more sensitive to your actions and moves than you know.”
Ted works primarily with the tie-down and breakaway ropers and gives an award every year to the “most improved” person in those two events. In addition to all he does for the rodeo contestants, he helps the NIRA staff “move” their office to Wyoming each year for the College Finals and back again to Walla Walla.
Now for Eleanor Powers volunteering effort. There are not always photographers at every college rodeo and college kids are not always able to afford to buy pictures even if they are available. In the digital age, we hear people say “There is an app for that.” For the contestants in the Northwest Region, that “app” comes in the form of Eleanor Powers, also a NIRA Alumni member. She attends all the regional rodeos and she takes her camera. She tries to take a good action picture of each contestant in those rodeos. At the CNFR, Eleanor can be seen with her video camera filming all the Northwest Region contestants. She labels and prints those pictures, no small task, and gives them to the coaches to give to their students.
Ted and Eleanor host a barbecue for the WWCC rodeo kids each year. Ted makes braid and leatherwork headstalls, pink for the girls, and natural for the guys, which he gives to all who had a first place finish during the year.
No “tooting their own horn” from these two but they are Super Volunteers. Every college rodeo team and region should be so lucky!
