Let's get ready to Worcester Rumble — Professional Bull Riders tour comes to DCU Center

When Hunter Ball is at the DCU Center on Feb. 24 and 25, at least a couple of 2,000 pound bulls will be trying to throw something off their backs.

Namely, Hunter Ball — 5' 7'', 140 pounds.

But Ball, 24, didn't seem too worried about the prospect when speaking on the phone recently. "When the bull starts bucking on you, you get excited ... It's a lot of fun," he said.

That's one of the reasons Ball is a professional bull rider, one of about 40 who will be at the DCU Center for the "Worcester Rumble," also known as  PBR’s (Professional Bull Riders) Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour,  at 7 p.m. Feb. 24 and 2 p.m. Feb. 25.

The event will showcase what has been called the ultimate showdown of man vs. beast in one of the most exciting live sporting events to witness.

"The adrenaline gets going. Especially when you do it right, accomplish what you set out to do, it's a great feeling," Ball said.

During the course of trying to ride a 2,000 pound bull, you can't take the bull by the horns. The rider has only a braided rope to hold on to with one hand, while the other hand has to stay in the air. "We're not supposed to touch the bull or ourselves," Ball said. As judges award points for different stylistic considerations, the rider has to stay on a bull for at least eight seconds. The rider wants a raging bull as opposed to a sleepy one. Among the things judges are looking for is "how high the bull jumps and kicks," Ball said.

Bull riding has Velocity in Worcester

Worcester audiences have taken to the Worcester Rumble, and the Feb. 24 and 25 event will mark the eighth time the Velocity Tour has travelled to DCU Center. Organizers said that following the "overwhelming enthusiasm and demand for PBR Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour events in Worcester, including single-day sold out shows the past four years, the organization expanded the competition to be two days in February 2024. PBR Worcester will be met with added significance as the PBR’s lone event in Massachusetts during the 2024 individual season."

PBR is celebrating its 31st anniversary since 20 cowboys broke away from the traditional rodeo with the belief that bull riding could be a standalone sport. Since their trailblazing initiative, the PBR has grown into a global phenomenon.

'It's gonna be a good show'

There are three PBR series touring in in the U.S. — Unleash the Beast, Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour and Touring Pro Division. Riders on the Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour are competing for points that can get them to the top level Unleash the Beast tour. The 2024 PBR World Finals will begin in Fort Worth at Dickies Arena, on May 10-13, for Eliminations, featuring the Top 40 riders from the Unleash The Beast standings, joined by the five invited riders advancing via the Velocity Tour Finals.

At the time of being interviewed, Ball had logged four Top-10 finishes on the Velocity Tour so far in the early stages of the 2024 season, while also being invited to appear at two premier Unleash The Beast events.

Ahead of coming to the DCU Center for the first time in his riding career, the easy-going sounding but tough-riding Ball said "I'm very excited. I've been having a great year. It's gonna be a good show."

The 40 competitors will vie for points, each trying to stay atop a bull in initial rounds on Feb. 24 and 25. The top 10 or 12 point-getters then will head into a short-round, third bill on Feb. 25 that will determine the event winner.

Ball's goal is to end the 2024 season in the Top Ten riders on the Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour which would promote him to Unleash the Beast. He was currently 13th.

"I'm trying not to look at it too much," he said of the standings.

Ball is from rural Carsonville, Michigan, and his interest in bull riding dates to when he was seven-years-old and would climb aboard beef calves at his grandfather's farm. "My grandpa had a cattle ranch. I was always around the horses and cattle," he said.

He rode at county fairs, and then Nathan Muxlow of the nearby Muxlow Cattle Company, who has an associated training school for bull riding, gave Ball some valuable training working from riding beef calves to bulls. "He helped me a lot," Ball said.

Ball advanced to being a college competitor while he was a student athlete at Fort Scott Community College in Fort Scott, Kansas, and made the College National Finals Rodeo.

Bull riding got him "a college degree and college rodeos. It's done a lot for me," Ball said.

He's been a PBR rider "going for about four years," starting in the Touring Pro Division.

Ball said he's single and can see himself riding until he's about 31 or 32. "I love being with my buddies, traveling the country."

Bull riding can be dangerous, of course, and one time Ball said he "broke my jaw pretty bad and busted some teeth out." Other than that, however, he's stayed fairly injury free.

"I'm pretty grateful for staying pretty healthy. Nothing too bad," he said.

PBR Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour — Worcester Rumble

When: 7 p.m. Feb. 24 and 2 p.m. Feb. 25

Where: DCU Center, 50 Foster St., Worcester

How much: Tickets start at $20. Ticketmaster.com

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Worcester Rumble - Professional Bull Riders tour comes to DCU Center