Big turnout | Hosting a successful event puts student group on solid ground
After a successful debut, the organizers of a revived rodeo club at the University of Saskatchewan say they’ll ride again.
Last month’s event, hosted at Martensville’s OK Corral, was the first rodeo competition hosted under the U of S banner in 20 years, said Shelby Clemens, president of the on-campus group.
Or so she’s been told.
“It’s all word of mouth,” said the second-year student from Lumsden, Sask. “That’s the number we got.”
When she arrived at the university, the rodeo club she found was similarly informal. Students had travelled out of province in recent years to compete at Canadian Intercollegiate Rodeo Association events, but Clemens saw undeveloped potential for the club, one of four teams on the university’s Stockman and Rodeo club.
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“I went looking to join a rodeo club, but found that the rodeo side to it had sort of died off,” said the animal sciences student. “There was one maybe two people who had gone (to events) in the last two years and there just wasn’t really anything happening with that.”
A partnership with a former high school competitor, Katie Dutchak, led to a springtime meeting to gauge interest.
A positive turnout — Clemens estimated 20 people — was encouraging.
“We’ve probably quadrupled the number of members this year. We’re just trying to get back out there and give ourselves a better name,” said Brittany Jordet, president of the Stockman’s club.
The group decided to host its own event to raise awareness of the club, drawing upon the interests and backgrounds of students, many of whom come from rural communities across the Prairies.
“We knew it was going to be big, but we were surprised how big it got in our first year,” said Dutchak. “We knew there was potential and we knew that this would grow and this would be really big, we just were really thrown back by how quickly it exploded.”
After four months of planning — the two spearheaded efforts to attract competitors and sponsors, book a band, and acquire a liquor licence — the event was an unqualified success.
With over 100 students from Western Canadian universities and technical schools— including 15 from the U of S — competing in ten events over two days, the turnout far exceeded hopes, said organizers.
A few hundred more walked through the doors of the event, making it one of the largest college rodeos in Western Canada.
“We’re really happy with that. Our first year, nobody really knew what to expect,” said Clemens.
“It was hard to get people out and it was hard to get sponsors that would get on board with such a new idea.”
With the event under the belts, the club is keeping an eye to the future. Members will continue to travel together to events in Alberta and their intention is to make the rodeo an event.
There’s talk of eventually adding another event in the spring.
