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  • Rich Flowers/Athens Review TVCC Rodeo Coach Brett Bratton told the Athens Kiwanis Club Tuesday that the school offers students a chance to learn on some top stock, and ride and rope against skilled competition. Rich Flowers/Athens Review

    7-20 Brett Bratton.jpg

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July 19, 2011

Rodeo leader addresses Kiwanis Club

Rich Flowers CNHI

Athens — Trinity Valley Community College is a location of choice for some of the top high-school rodeo competitors.

TVCC Rodeo Coach Brett Bratton told the Athens Kiwanis Club Tuesday that the school offers students a chance to learn on some top stock, and ride and rope against skilled competition.

Cowboys and cowgirls on the TVCC  team get to further their education while pursuing their life-long love of rodeo.

Just like a football player making the move from high school to college, a TVCC rodeo-team member will see a spike in the level of competition.

“It’s a different world,” Bratton said. “I don’t know how to explain it. Some of them are intimidated. Some of them fit right in. It’s just another step in life,” he said.

The rodeo team has a 2011-2012 schedule that includes 10 events that will take the riders and ropers to Mount Pleasant, Uvalde, Conroe, Nacogdoches, Kingsville and other stops in Texas, and across the border to Louisiana.

“We do compete against Texas A&M and Sam Houston, which was the champion men’s team this past year, and McNeese State which was the runner up,” Bratton said. “So to be able to compete with the best brings our stuff to a different level.”

In addition, TVCC hosts its own rodeo each February.

The TVCC event gives the community a chance to see top college rodeo participants in a family-friendly environment. TVCC President

Dr. Glendon Forgery goes to the rodeo each year, and gives away bicycles to the winners of the calf scramble.

“He’s there every year. He’s one of the only presidents I see at the college rodeos,” Bratton said. “You go to one of the other rodeos, and there’s nobody there.”

The festivities include Kids on Saturday, featuring rodeo-related activities for children.

“It’s in February, and it’s usually pretty cool – I mean cold, but the kids have a blast,” Bratton said.

Bratton worked in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, where he worked 16 years managing broodmares and stallions and breaking colts. That, on top of his years entering college and open rodeos, made him a natural choice to head the rodeo program at TVCC.

He’s been pleased to find the level of support the program has gotten from the school and business community.

“When I came here three years ago, I just couldn’t believe the money they put into our program,” Bratton said.

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