Article reposted from Dodge City Daily Globe
Author: John Zetmeir
In Doug Olle’s line of work, he would prefer a slow day in the office. Unfortunately, slow days are not very common when you are in the business of mending people who are trying to stay atop a 2,000 pound bull, or stay on your horse while lassoing cattle.
Olle is the captain of the Justin Boots sports medicine team trailer that is parked on the west end of the Roundup Rodeo grounds where the contestants stay. The sports medicine team has multiple teams that travel all around the country every year.
The group of Olle and his four volunteers do everything from taping ankles to doctoring up contestants whether it be before they get in the saddle or after they’ve been thrown to the ground.
During Tuesday night’s PRCA Extreme Bull Riding event, Olle and his staff tended to 32 people.
“This is essential for what we do,” bullfighter Nate Jestes said. “Anything we do, there are a lot of risk factors and guys are always banged up, especially at this time of the year when we’ve been going since January. To have these guys on site, to take care of our injuries right away and tell us how to recover the quickest, it’s huge for us.”
Since 1992, Olle has been apart of the sports medicine team. While he mentioned that his job could turn into hell in a blink of an eye, Olle sees it more as taking care of family members than taking care of contestants. Because of the uniqueness of the trailer’s operation, Olle is often acquainted with the same people throughout the year.
“I tell people that most husbands and wives have one to two family reunions a year, I’ve got 30,” Olle said. “It is a bond, it is a family.”
The whole sports medicine team covers 125 rodeos around the country every year. Of those 125, Olle visits 30 locations. This year is his fifth year coming to Dodge City.
“The people here are really nice,” Olle said about Dodge City. “The rodeo is really good. Everywhere I go I get to meet some pretty incredible people.”