Cooper's unconventional choice came when he was six. The future bull rider saw some sheep and told his mother, Sadie Phelps, that he wanted to ride one. Mrs. Phelps was skeptical at first.
"We were like sure, ride a sheep," recalled Sadie. "He'll fall off, he won't want to do this anymore."
Sadie was wrong. After he was done with the sheep, Cooper worked his way up to calves and steers, and in May of this year, he was named the Louisiana High School Rodeo Association's Rookie of the Year and earned a spot at the National Junior High Rodeo in Guthrie, Oklahoma.
Ever since Cooper made the decision to pursue this life of rodeo, he and his family got to work. At the Phelps family home, Cooper practices on his own rodeo practice barrels, which simulate bull riding and horseback riding. The Phelps family also constructed a ring where Cooper rides on his family's own bulls.
All of this comes to help Cooper succeed, no matter the cost.
"It is tough," said Sadie. "But if you saw how hard he works, and you just listen to him, he eats, lives, sleeps, breathes this. I'm going to push any of my kids, whatever they're into. If they're going to put in the time and the effort, I'm definitely going to be 100% behind them. We've sacrificed, and that's ok, because that's what you do for your kids."
With how much time Cooper spends in the rodeo world, it's almost like he has a third parent.
"If you're around good people, you become good people," said Corey Phelps, Cooper's dad. "Rodeo people, cowboy people, livestock people are really good people. They all know how to work hard, and their word is good. Keeping him around those types of people really means a lot to us."
Cooper might've hit the parent jackpot, and he knows it.
"If I didn't have them, I wouldn't be here," said Cooper. "I'm so thankful that god gave me them and I'm just blessed."
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Cooper's unconventional choice came when he was six. The future bull rider saw some sheep and told his mother, Sadie Phelps, that he wanted to ride one. Mrs. Phelps was skeptical at first.
"We were like sure, ride a sheep," recalled Sadie. "He'll fall off, he won't want to do this anymore."
Sadie was wrong. After he was done with the sheep, Cooper worked his way up to calves and steers, and in May of this year, he was named the Louisiana High School Rodeo Association's Rookie of the Year and earned a spot at the National Junior High Rodeo in Guthrie, Oklahoma.
Ever since Cooper made the decision to pursue this life of rodeo, he and his family got to work. At the Phelps family home, Cooper practices on his own rodeo practice barrels, which simulate bull riding and horseback riding. The Phelps family also constructed a ring where Cooper rides on his family's own bulls.
All of this comes to help Cooper succeed, no matter the cost.
"It is tough," said Sadie. "But if you saw how hard he works, and you just listen to him, he eats, lives, sleeps, breathes this. I'm going to push any of my kids, whatever they're into. If they're going to put in the time and the effort, I'm definitely going to be 100% behind them. We've sacrificed, and that's ok, because that's what you do for your kids."
With how much time Cooper spends in the rodeo world, it's almost like he has a third parent.
"If you're around good people, you become good people," said Corey Phelps, Cooper's dad. "Rodeo people, cowboy people, livestock people are really good people. They all know how to work hard, and their word is good. Keeping him around those types of people really means a lot to us."
Cooper might've hit the parent jackpot, and he knows it.
"If I didn't have them, I wouldn't be here," said Cooper. "I'm so thankful that god gave me them and I'm just blessed."
" />
Cooper's unconventional choice came when he was six. The future bull rider saw some sheep and told his mother, Sadie Phelps, that he wanted to ride one. Mrs. Phelps was skeptical at first.
"We were like sure, ride a sheep," recalled Sadie. "He'll fall off, he won't want to do this anymore."
Sadie was wrong. After he was done with the sheep, Cooper worked his way up to calves and steers, and in May of this year, he was named the Louisiana High School Rodeo Association's Rookie of the Year and earned a spot at the National Junior High Rodeo in Guthrie, Oklahoma.
Ever since Cooper made the decision to pursue this life of rodeo, he and his family got to work. At the Phelps family home, Cooper practices on his own rodeo practice barrels, which simulate bull riding and horseback riding. The Phelps family also constructed a ring where Cooper rides on his family's own bulls.
All of this comes to help Cooper succeed, no matter the cost.
"It is tough," said Sadie. "But if you saw how hard he works, and you just listen to him, he eats, lives, sleeps, breathes this. I'm going to push any of my kids, whatever they're into. If they're going to put in the time and the effort, I'm definitely going to be 100% behind them. We've sacrificed, and that's ok, because that's what you do for your kids."
With how much time Cooper spends in the rodeo world, it's almost like he has a third parent.
"If you're around good people, you become good people," said Corey Phelps, Cooper's dad. "Rodeo people, cowboy people, livestock people are really good people. They all know how to work hard, and their word is good. Keeping him around those types of people really means a lot to us."
Cooper might've hit the parent jackpot, and he knows it.
"If I didn't have them, I wouldn't be here," said Cooper. "I'm so thankful that god gave me them and I'm just blessed."
Team Phelps: Napoleonville family "all-in" on son's rodeo dream
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NAPOLEONVILLE - When people think of sports that kids play growing up in Louisiana, they might think of football, baseball, basketball, maybe even fishing. But 11-year-old Cooper Phelps fell in love with something else.
"I just always grew up watching bull riding tapes and rodeos, and I just thought I wanted to be just like them," said Cooper.
Cooper's unconventional choice came when he was six. The future bull rider saw some sheep and told his mother, Sadie Phelps, that he wanted to ride one. Mrs. Phelps was skeptical at first.
"We were like sure, ride a sheep," recalled Sadie. "He'll fall off, he won't want to do this anymore."
Sadie was wrong. After he was done with the sheep, Cooper worked his way up to calves and steers, and in May of this year, he was named the Louisiana High School Rodeo Association's Rookie of the Year and earned a spot at the National Junior High Rodeo in Guthrie, Oklahoma.
Ever since Cooper made the decision to pursue this life of rodeo, he and his family got to work. At the Phelps family home, Cooper practices on his own rodeo practice barrels, which simulate bull riding and horseback riding. The Phelps family also constructed a ring where Cooper rides on his family's own bulls.
All of this comes to help Cooper succeed, no matter the cost.
"It is tough," said Sadie. "But if you saw how hard he works, and you just listen to him, he eats, lives, sleeps, breathes this. I'm going to push any of my kids, whatever they're into. If they're going to put in the time and the effort, I'm definitely going to be 100% behind them. We've sacrificed, and that's ok, because that's what you do for your kids."
With how much time Cooper spends in the rodeo world, it's almost like he has a third parent.
"If you're around good people, you become good people," said Corey Phelps, Cooper's dad. "Rodeo people, cowboy people, livestock people are really good people. They all know how to work hard, and their word is good. Keeping him around those types of people really means a lot to us."
Cooper might've hit the parent jackpot, and he knows it.
"If I didn't have them, I wouldn't be here," said Cooper. "I'm so thankful that God gave me them and I'm just blessed."
