Fear and faith in the arena

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Today is Wednesday, March 12th.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Lindsay Mast.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Bullfighting.

It’s a centuries-old tradition that pits man against beast in a colorful and often deadly and controversial dance.

MAST: Several nations still allow traditional bullfighting with matadors and their swords. But the sport’s popularity has declined since the 1980s, over animal-welfare concerns around the world.

EICHER: Here in the US cowboys have changed methods and elevated the sport.

REICHARD: WORLD’s Todd Vician has our story.

ANNOUNCER: Alright, so slowly and surely we’re going to get this animal up. Ballard is ready…

BALLARD: Imagine standing on the train tracks and having a train, one of them old coal trains. I mean rolling steam right at you…

TODD VICIAN: That’s the feeling Luke Ballard has the moment the gate swings open and a bull charges toward him.

ANNOUNCER: It’s not something where you agitate the animal. It’s the way they are born and bred. Generations of ferociousness comes alive today!

BALLARD: He's got one one mission, it’s to cause harm to whatever stands in his way. And so you step up and challenge that and it’s quite a dance when you do it right.

Ballard is a professional freestyle bullfighter. He earns a living trying to stay as close as he can to an unpredictable, 1,500-pound bull that charges anything that moves.

BALLARD: Obviously it's an adrenaline rush, but calling for one of those suckers is one of the best feelings and sometimes some of the worst feelings you'll ever have in your life.

10 bullfighters competed for top score recently on the final day of the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo. Ballard was one of them. He’s the 2023 world champion, having successfully done a backflip over a charging bull in that competition. Now he’s trying to move back to the top and stay healthy, while witnessing for Christ.

BALLARD: When you get in that arena, there is definitely a feeling that comes over you, like, I could die, you know. So having faith that the Lord will protect me and, yeah, be with every step that I make and every move that I make is one of the reasons I can even step in there in the first place.

Today’s bullfighters carry on the Spanish tradition of matadors without the capes and swords. They still dress colorfully, and many paint their faces like rodeo clowns. Most also wear protective vests under their costumes that absorb the brunt of the force when they’re hooked by a charging bull. But injuries are still common.

YANCEY: I had an MCL tear last year. Had to have surgery on it. Came back in July.

Luke Yancey is a bullfighter from Pelahatchie, Mississippi. At 29, he’s one of the older bullfighters. He arrived at the rodeo with Ballard and they often use their time together to encourage and mentor each other about the difficulties that come with a life on the road. His dad was a professional rodeo announcer, and Yancey grew up in and around arenas. He tried college and baseball before settling on fighting bulls, but he thanks God for guiding his path to the arena.

YANCEY: So I kind of struggled, to be honest, after college, not really having a purpose for my life, or feeling like I didn't. So I just started praying a lot, and it took about two and a half years to really see the big picture. And the Lord showed me the PBR one day and I saw those guys running around and protecting those guys, and it was like an overwhelming sense of purpose.

Bullfighters vie for 100 points each round, with 50 of those points coming from the bull’s aggressiveness.

ANNOUNCER: Warning, the fighting bulls preparing to enter this arena are extremely dangerous…

They are judged on their willingness to expose themselves to risk and their style. Touching the bull’s face and jumping over the charging beast earn high scores and cheers from the crowd.

ANNOUNCER: Whoa, he’s got ‘em!

Luke Ballard, left, and Luke Yancey Photo by Todd Vician

Friends Yancey and Ballard were pitted against each other this time. Yancey went first.

ANNOUNCER: Oh, just when you think you've got him, [bell sounds] the predator becomes the prey…

A few minutes later, Ballard’s turn.

ANNOUNCER: Look, he stays in the center of the pen here. Don't weaken, don't weaken, get out there, you’re good. Fans, a little encouragement goes a long way [Bell sounds]

The hottest bulls have names, and Ballard won his world championship fighting “Habanero.” The victory gave him a bigger stage to share his faith, and he considers his vocation part of God’s mandate in Genesis.

BALLARD: When you're having a good fight, I mean, you feel like you can't move. Make a wrong move, those bulls just slide past you. You feel like you're in total control of those animals, which God calls us. He said, ‘Man will have total control over all the all the beasts and everything of the world.’”

Ballard bested his friend Yancey in the first round.

BALLARD: Things can change in an instant.

But in the championship round, he was hooked by the bull.

ANNOUNCER: Throws that first fake. This looks good. You see him slow down, breaks around the corner. He just catches the leg right there.”

He tried to continue fighting but couldn’t put any weight on his leg, ending his pursuit of the $10,000 prize.

But he and Yancey left the arena hopeful.

BALLARD: I feel like in my life, God has called me to be a missionary. And sometimes people think missionary as in going overseas, going to some place to minister to these people. But I think God has really put me in the western industry specifically to be a missionary, to be a light. Whenever you think of the Western industry and cowboys, it's pretty rough and tough and so, yeah, being a change, being a light to people who are broken. That's kind of what I feel like God calls me to do.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Todd Vician in San Antonio, Texas.

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