How do you define your role in the Practice Pen?

In Podcast #2 of the Jen and Jeana Show, we discussed how defining our “roles” within the practice pens helps to have clarity and thereby increase the purpose of our practice.  

What role do you play when you step into the practice pen? The roles that I see that are in the practice pen are:

• Competitor – the one who is working on their rope skills at that time.

• Helper – Get arena ready, calves loaded, open chute.

• Coach – This can look several ways, they could be helping strictly with skills development, providing guidance of mental performance, accountability check in.  This person should have a clearly defined role of that the competitor wants, how they want feedback and when that feedback will occur.  This person can be physically located in the practice pen but with our expanding technology, they could be in the arena via videos, zoom, facetime.  Or they could be reviewing videos, providing mental performance support and accountability after the practice session.  

• Supporter – The person who supports all the pieces of the puzzle.

What if there is more than one competitor? Or you must play multiple roles?  I have found that the most functional practice pens that I have been in, is when you have defined roles.

Someone asked me at a recent clinic to rope some live cattle during the clinic and my response was that just doesn’t work for me.  When I am in competitor mode or rope for me/my horse mode I cannot be splitting my focus on other things.  If I do this, I find that I am making small mistakes or sometimes big with my roping due to my focus not being where I need it to be.  And one of my main goals in the practice pen, for myself, is practice for correct muscle memory.  

What role do you play in the practice pen? How do you prepare for that role? How would you show up differently if you know what your defined role is?