8 minute read
Rider Rundown with Brett Hopp
By Katlin Truelsen - CAC Media Group
While the weather may be getting colder here in Iowa, some of our riders are still getting in on the rodeo action down south in Oklahoma and Texas including this month’s rider, Brett Hopp. Hopp is a native of Illinois, about an hour and a half from my neck of the woods in Iowa, and I had a chance to chat with him while he was riding in Mesquite, Texas at the World Championship Miniature Bull Riders World Finals. Here is what he had to say.
KT: Hey, Brett, thanks for making time to chat today. Can you please tell our readers your name and grade?
BH: I am Brett Hopp, I am a junior and I am 16 years old.
KT: Where are you from?
BH: I am from Toulon, Illinois
KT: What is the size of your school?
BH: There are about 60 kids in my class, which is pretty small.
KT: How does it feel to be one of the only kids that rodeos around you?
BH: It’s pretty cool. It’s hard because they don’t understand how big the rodeo is, even my teachers don’t get it. Right now, I am in Texas riding, and they don’t understand exactly how big of a deal it is and what I have to put into it. But the school is good at shouting me out on the announcements for some stuff, which is cool.
KT: That is cool. I don’t think most of the teachers at my school would understand that either. Can you tell us how did you got into rodeo if it isn’t big in your area?
BH: We have such a small town, and most kids show livestock. Nobody has really grown up with rodeo like I have. I have been around livestock and farming my whole life, but my cousins rode bulls, which is how I got into it.
KT: Why are you riding down in Texas?
BH: I qualified with the Steiber Cattle Company. They have a WCMB membership, and they have been great for us this summer.
KT: Walk us through what is going to happen while you are down in Texas.
BH: Tonight is the back number ceremony. The peewees and juniors are on Tuesday, and the older guys like me ride on Wednesday morning and Thursday with the short go on Friday. I am feeling pretty good since some of the bulls here I got on this summer and last winter when I won the International Miniature Rodeo Association (IMRA) World Finals.
KT: Who else do you know out there?
BH: The Singleton boys are out here, and they are really good. Chase won the world championship last year and I really look up to him. He is younger than me, he is pretty cool to be around. I like to say if you surround yourself with winners, you will become a winner.
KT: That sounds like good advice. Where are you riding after this? Are you riding out to Vegas?
BH: We are not this year, we wanted to try something new, so we headed down to Texas. We pick one big rodeo to go to each year and this is what we picked. We can get some pretty big prize money for winning here. Up to $25,000, I think.
KT: Is that money in the form of a scholarship or do you just win it as prize money?
BH: A little bit of both, I think. I have been working to get a scholarship, but the money would be nice too. I ride with Bode Spence, Cade Smith, and Hadley Harris and there are some college coaches in Iowa who are keeping an eye on us. I think I have a chance at getting a scholarship someday.
KT: Where have you been looking for college?
BH: I have been looking in quite a few places all over, Iowa Central, Fort Scott, Kansas, Odessa, Texas.
KT: Could you tell us a little bit about how your summer went?
BH: Well, It started off good. I won four rodeos in the Extreme Bull Riding Tour, which was great, but then I broke both of my legs over the summer, and I was out for six or eight weeks. I broke them about four weeks apart, which was pretty miserable.
KT: I would imagine that was a pretty big setback.
BH: Yeah, it was. I was really ready to get back after I healed up, but I do think that little bit of a break helped me get my mindset back into riding. When I was just back, I got on a really good bull and rode him all the way to seven seconds. I wish I could have hung on one more second, but it felt really good to be back and to do well on a tough bull my first ride in.
KT: Could you talk about that mindset piece and what you went through those weeks you couldn’t ride?
BH: I feel like if you train your mind to be patient and take it easier on your body you will come back stronger and want to win more. You start to crave it, which you don’t do as much when you are riding all the time. And when you start to think about it and you can’t do it, you start to break it down and really think the process through. When I couldn’t ride bulls, I watched videos of some of the best riders and learned from them and then started with my stationary barrel, just getting back to the basics, and keeping it simple.
KT: And now that you are back, do you feel like you are riding better than before?
BH: I do feel like I am riding better. I feel like I matured, and I am thinking about riding in a different way.
KT: I am glad you were able to make it back and get on some bull for the end of the year. Where does Texas play into everything for the junior riders? How do you rank Junior World Finals compared to High School Finals and where does everything else fall?
BH: I personally think it is way cooler and bigger to compete at Vegas compared to the high school finals. You get to be around the bigger guys who are riding in the NFR at the same time that you are riding in the Junior World Finals. It is a cool experience. I never qualified for the high school finals, but I did qualify for Little Britches, which is kind of the same thing. We quit doing the Little Britches and the high school rodeos because there was no money involved. You pay an $80.00 entry fee and if you win you only get ten to twelve dollars back. You are losing a lot of money.
KT: It makes sense then that you would want to ride in the jackpot rodeos. Especially since you are the only one in your school to compete. Okay, at the end, we always wrap up with some fun questions, so here it goes. What is your favorite movie?
BH: I would say the documentary “The Last Dance.” It is about Michael Jordan, and it is really good.
KT: Favorite sport to watch besides rodeo?
BH: Probably MMA or UFC boxing.
KT: That is a new one. What about your favorite food?
BH: Steak
KT: Okay, not a new one. Favorite restaurant when you are on the road traveling?
BH: Whataburger. We eat there when we are down in Oklahoma.
KT: Never tried it. I will have to check it out. Lastly, tell us a motivational quote that you find inspiring and who said it.
BH: “Winners do winning things” by David Berry. We stopped at David Berry’s place on our way down. He puts on the coach’s practices, and I got on four at his place to get everything right before I rode down here.
KT: Thanks for chatting with us this week, Brett and we wish you the best of luck as you wrap up your season in Texas!
BH: Thanks for interviewing me. It was fun.
KT: Be sure to catch next month’s issue when we catch back up with all the riders over the past year in our Rider Rundown Recap: Road to Vegas 2023. To hear from more of your favorite junior bull riders, you can check out the National High School Finals Rodeo page or the Yeti Junior World Finals on Facebook.
Katlin Truelsen is a member of the CAC Media Group and specializes in digital and print media. She is currently a high school junior and lives with her family on a diversified grain and livestock farm in Eastern Iowa.
