Blackfoot’s Austin Arave a star on the hardwood, gridiron … and in the rodeo arena

BLACKFOOT — Blackfoot High School’s Austin Arave is a three-sport athlete. But he doesn’t play the three sports that you might guess.

Sure, there are other Idaho teens who star on their high school’s football and basketball teams. But not many of those teens have also qualified for national rodeo competitions.

In Austin’s case, it is a unique combination of skillsets that can be traced through both nature and nurture.

According to his father, Blackfoot head basketball coach Clint Arave, Austin gets his genetics from a pair of basketball-playing rodeo folk.

Austin’s mom, Chelsey Arave, played basketball and rodeoed at American Falls High School. Clint, who grew up playing basketball, carried his rodeo career to the intercollegiate and professional levels.

“Both side of Austin’s parents — we’ve been involved with both rodeo and basketball for a long time,” Clint said. “On the football side of it, Austin’s a much better football player than I ever was.”

That’s the nature side of the equation. As for the nurture side, Austin recalls following his rodeoing father around when he was a youngster, and developing his own love for the life.

“I always just, kind of, liked rodeo,” he said. “I started doing all three — I liked those sports and I wanted to be good at all three. … I just like to compete.”

Austin, coming off a season in which he qualified for the national high school rodeo, had a rough go-round at last week’s Idaho High School Rodeo Association Finals, posting three no-scores. But rodeo, like both football and basketball, he said, is all about having short memories when it comes to mistakes. Being great at all three, he continued is about equal parts skill and self-confidence.

“You’ve absolutely got to have uber-confidence in whatever you do,” he said.

That isn’t the only commonality between the three sports.

“All three are a lot alike, honestly,” Austin said. “It’s a lot of eye-hand coordination — whether you’re throwing a football, roping a calf or shooting a basketball, you’ve got to have good hand-eye coordination.”

Skills learned in each sport, Austin continued, help in his development with the others.

As a junior the past school year, Austin was Blackfoot’s starting quarterback and point guard.

On the court, the Broncos went into the 5A District 6 tournament as the No. 2 seed, but they fell to Bonneville twice and were eliminated, never qualifying for state.

On the gridiron, the Broncos bounced back from an 0-9 2023 season to go 6-5, including a playoff win at Preston. They were eliminated by the eventual 5A state champion Hillcrest Knights.

And Austin thinks the team is only trending upwards, with another promising season in the works.

“I’m excited to see what we’re going to do,” he said. “We’re definitely going to be a little young, but I think we’re going to be pretty fit to accomplish what we want.”

Clint noted that even during the week of the rodeo finals, Austin spent his evenings throwing the football and mornings in the weight room for team lifts. He added that, he takes great satisfaction in seeing his kids succeed in areas where he succeeded before them — and others, like in football, where his son has found more success than he ever did.

The “really funny perspective” Clint has on Austin, given his own experiences, allows him to take great joy in seeing his son’s success:

“In lots of ways, it’s a lot better.”

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