Students and community
members directly involved with rodeo think it deserves more respect.
“We as a school recognize
it, though it’s sponsored through community support at outside functions,”
Principal Suzanne Nicastro says, adding that athletic director Ken Fredrickson
helps students meet the rodeo criteria, which include maintaining a 2.0 grade
point average.
Says Fredrickson: “We do
give letters to kids who meet those standards.”
The California
Interscholastic Federation, the state’s governing body of high school
athletics, doesn’t list rodeo as a sport.
That’s disconcerting to John
Branquinho of Los Alamos, who says Santa Ynez High should acknowledge rodeo as
a conventional sport such as baseball or basketball. He said students who
participate in rodeo hold up their end of the bargain, so to speak, by procuring
$250 for a full Friends of Rodeo sponsorship and earning at least a C average
in the classroom.
“The district budget should
have nothing to do with it since the kids are already supported financially
outside the school,” Branquinho said.”
Although the school presents
“letters” to those students involved in rodeo, he said, there should be more
recognition. What’s more, he contends, rodeo is beneficial because everybody
gets to participate in the competition.
“When you play other sports,
you have five starters or nine starters playing a certain amount, while some
kids on the sidelines don’t get to compete at all,” said Branquino, whose sons
lettered in rodeo at Santa Ynez years ago. (They remain heavily active: Luke is
the reigning world champion steer wrestler, while Tony serves as rodeo coach
for Cal Poly, and Casey still competes in events.)
“I’ve gone to several games,
watch the first-stringers stay in, while other kids never get into the games at
all,” he said. “It’s not like that with rodeo.”
In a recent letter to the
Valley Journal, student Meghan Rowe of Solvang expressed her disappointment in
the school’s lack of support of rodeo members.
Rowe, who qualified for the
California High School Rodeo Association last year, writes in part: “Unfortunately,
our school district does not recognize rodeo as a sport like football, and does
not allocate money to cover the costs of our activity … Being involved in
(rodeo) teaches us responsibility as we need to care for our horses, and we
must maintain a 2.0 grade point average to participate.”
Janell Bilkey, District 7
Rodeo membership secretary who handles the paperwork for high school students
(they must be official members to participate in rodeo), understands both the school’s and participants’ viewpoints.
Although it can be difficult
for students to procure funding through sponsors, she says, the situation is
getting better. And all the money brought in (including $2,500 for major event
sponsors) eventually goes back to the kids involved.
“I do think the school needs
to acknowledge rodeo more, but it’s also more of an ‘outside’ district
activity,” Bilkey adds, noting District 7 Rodeo encompasses nine districts.
In any case, Branquinho can’t
fathom why Santa Ynez High School itself isn’t more involved.
“It’s terrible,” he says.
From the school’s
standpoint, the principal says there’s more than meets the eye.
“It’s my understanding
nobody at the school was willing to be an advisor or coach for rodeo,” Nicastro
said. “No parent or other community member has stepped forward and talked with
me. If somebody wants to make an appointment to discuss it, or has any
suggestions, I’m open.”
jluksic@syvjournal.com