Despite competing in a sport with dwindling numbers in an exceptionally tough economy, the Douglas County High School Rodeo Club has managed to grow where many other clubs are just trying to hold steady.
"It's tough," said Cindy Denny, who has two sons - Grant and Wyatt - competing on the team this year. "Once you get to the high school level, it gets real expensive and a lot of kids will opt to play school sports, which are essentially free."
Rodeo, on the other hand, demands high start-up costs with horses, trailers, hay and so on - not to mention gas to get to competitions nearly every weekend during the spring all over the state.
"You're driving all over to get to these rodeos and cattles prices do come into play," she said. "You're paying for your horse expenses, your gear. There are no coaches, there isn't anything. Everyone is essentially on their own.
"Sponsors have really dropped off because of the economy and we were getting some government money for a while, but we aren't seeing that anymore either.
"But there are a lot of really nice people that will just come out and help. They are really good at what they do and they come out to give the kids pointers and help.
These are people who just want to improve the sport."
Indeed, even to find practice time in the various events, athletes have to carve time out to get as far as Fallon, Reno and Fernley in the same week.
"It's tough keeping up sometimes," said Ken Collins, 17, who lives in Dayton but has been with the Douglas club for both years of its existence. "I ride in the saddle bronc and the place I was practicing that really cut back, so I'm essentially just getting my practice time in on weekends (at the rodeos) and paying for it there."
Collins also competes in team roping and cutting.
"I work out at Paul Barnes Training Stables durings the day and I can practice my cutting there and the Dennys let me come over and rope a lot. But events like saddle bronc, you have to have a place that is equipped for it to be able to practice. You just end up practicing wherever and whenever you can."
That hasn't stopped the Douglas club from thriving.
The club had two athletes qualify for nationals last year (Grant Denny and Becka Glocknitzer) and appears to have at least three primed to qualify this year (Glocknitzer, Grant Denny and Wyatt Denny) for the national finals in Gilette, Wyoming.
Grant Denny is currently leading the state all-around standings.
"I came into the year just hoping to qualify for nationals in bull riding bareback and steer wrestling (the same three he qualified in last year)," Denny said. "It's been going so well lately, though, that I started setting my goals toward winning state. It'll be tough to do, but we'll see."
Denny credited his success this year to drastic improvement in bull riding.
"Something just clicked and I started figuring it out," he said. "Last year I only stayed on seven bulls all year and this year I've stayed on 12 with five or six more rodeos to go."
The club has also grown slightly, from nine members in its inaugural 2009 season after splitting from the Carson-Douglas club to 13 members this year.
Minden resident Thomas Cassinos is one of the club's new members. He's been competing in the rough stock events - bull riding, steer wrestling and bareback.
"My dad and my uncle were involved in rodeo," Cassinos said. "I wanted to give it a try. I came out one time, jumped on a bull and loved it.
"The rush is pretty intense. This season I've been kind of learning on the fly, but I'm slowly getting better."
The club also reached out to the junior high ranks by including the Wrangler Junior High Division in its annual home rodeo, which is scheduled for this weekend. The hope is to develop a strong feeder system into the high school club.
"We're really promoting the junior high division," Cindy Denny said. "There are some really great junior high kids and we just want to keep them involved once they reach high school. It's been growing, a lot of kids at the younger levels will rope all the time and barrel race all the time. We're trying to take those things and keep them going at the high school level."
About 250 entrants are expected at this weekend's rodeo and about 30 will compete in the junior high division (5th, 6th, 7th and 8th graders).
This year's rodeo is dedicated to the memory of Valley resident Brady Scilingo, a 14-year-old girl who died of cystic fibrosis.
Cutting is Friday at 10 a.m. on the Bently Ranch at 1089 Stockyard Road while the rodeo will be 9 a.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. Sunday at the Douglas County Fairgrounds on Dump Road.
Admission to the event is free and the club will host a barbecue snack bar and a team roping event Saturday night.
The club competed at the Fallon rodeo last weekend.
Grant Denny won the all-around cowboy title for the third week in a row, taking first in bareback both days, winning the bulls on Sunday and taking fifth and ninth in team roping with his brother, Wyatt.
Wyatt Denny was second in steer wrestling, third in bareback, eighth in calf tying and fifth and sixth in cutting.
Glocknitzer took fourth in poles and third and fourth in cutting.
Jessica Nalder was 10th both days in barrel racing.
