After being informed the team had violated Texas A&M club travel restrictions, the A&M rodeo team will move ahead into the final competition of the fall, which will take place Friday, Nov. 13-14 in Conroe.
On Oct. 5, A&M Student Activities contacted the rodeo team to inform the team of its violation of the university’s travel guidelines.
According to the A&M Sport Clubs Guidebook Chapter 7 Travel Guidelines, club teams are not allowed to travel to compete at events located more than 25 miles away. After a successful hearing held Oct. 22 among head coach Al Wagner, Ph.D., team president Luke Yargo and Student Activities representative Tyler Sellers, it was decided the team will now operate under the Department of Animal Sciences.
“We’re going to provide them with a set of protocols for minimizing COVID[-19] problems,” Wagner said. “It was good. I feel like it’s a win-win, and we’ll be good for the future.”
The rodeo team is making a move to operate under the umbrella of the Department of Animal Science, which already houses the ranch rodeo team. The rodeo team has met with the department and said members are enthusiastic about their eventual acceptance.
“The ball is rolling,” Wagner said. “Student Activities know about this and have no problem with it.”
The team is eager to compete in the last college rodeo of 2020 without any stress of travel violations, Wagner said.
Coming off of the Southwest Texas Junior College Rodeo on Oct. 2, assistant coach John Schueneman said the team had a good weekend.
“We had a lot of individuals that did pretty good, so that was a plus,” Schueneman said.
Every rodeo counts, and Wagner said it’s important these cowboys and cowgirls are able to participate in every rodeo to qualify for the college national championship.
“We’re not under [the] NCAA, but still they’re having these [rodeo] events,” Wagner said. “If we don’t participate, we lose. That’s just the bottom line.”
Despite the adversity faced by the team, Schueneman said the Aggies remain determined to be a force to be reckoned with. Schueneman said for rodeo participants, being strong is just their way of life.
“The weak succumb and the strong survive, and that’s kind of the way most rodeo people think,” Schueneman said. “We are strong, and we are going to pull through.”
The last rodeo taking place Nov. 13-14 is crucial to competitors both on the individual and team levels, and with travel restrictions out of the way the team is now able to fully focus on the concluding rodeo of the season.
“We need to pick up the pace because the first [rodeo] was the best one we had,” Wagner said. “I have several individuals doing fine, and we’ll be able to summarize that after the Sam Houston rodeo.”