PUEBLO, Colo. – Looking around the PBR Sport Performance Center in Pueblo, Colorado, on a normal week, you’ll see Antwon Burton, the SPC’s executive director and driving force, working out with athletes ranging from established Top 30 riders to prospective bull riding talent year-round.
Peeking into the state-of-the-art training facility throughout, which was completed in 2019 and remains in amazing condition, this week, you would’ve seen Burton working with more than 20 up-and-coming riders who have submitted themselves to the 2023 PBR Teams Combine.
This week’s hands-on, educational action is the second of three opportunities during this year’s combine, with the first segment, hosted in Archdale, North Carolina, already in the books.
The final session is set to be hosted in Bowie, Texas, April 25-27, with the combine concluding inside Cowtown Coliseum Thursday evening as select riders chosen from the combine compete for a $15,000 prize at the PBR Team Series Combine Championship April 27.
Wearing matching 2023 PBR Team Series Combine shirts and hats, the unit was one.
In the classroom, in the weight room and even on the dirt, as each of the participants eventually logged two attempts against quality ABBI talent, complementing the sets of stretches, workouts and ability-testing exercises they endured, they marched on as one class. One glimpse of the future.
A beneficial week of work, but not just for Burton and the riders, by any means.
With the combine welcoming the next wave of potential PBR talent, PBR legends turned coaches from each of the eight teams were present at the three-day workout and evaluation sessions.
Also hosting front office staff members from a few of the clubs, Burton and PBR Team Series Vice President Ken Lehner had themselves a full house, a sight for sore eyes.
“We’ve got all of the bulls we could ever need, and some really rank ones too,” Lehner joked during Thursday morning’s opening speech.
“It’s you guys that we need. We don’t have a sport without quality riding talent, and that’s why we’re here to connect with you all this week. To make sure you all get a chance to show each of our eight teams what you’ve got.”
Lehner has been charged with not only helping to bring the new Teams concept to life, now preparing for its second individual season, separate from Unleash The Beast, but now with ensuring each of the eight squads will have access to promising upcoming talent during the 2023 PBR Team Series Draft.
“Combines are traditionally thought of as strictly athletes working out and being tested for their athletic skills,” Lehner shared with PBR.com as things wrapped up Thursday afternoon.
“The fact of the matter is, as a young, new league, we have to educate riders on the business aspects and what their opportunities are to be successful financially. It’s not just about riding the bulls.”
Set to take place May 17 in Fort Worth, Texas, the draft will mark the first of its kind, as the inaugural 2022 PBR Team Series Draft, presented by ZipRecruiter, helped establish each teams’ Year One roster.
This time around, each coaching staff, general manager and roster of riders has experienced what it will take the win this year’s 2023 PBR Team Series Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada.
With teams now having existing rosters, locker room cultures and starting rotations established, they’ll look to improve the team via the Draft, rather than have to create that identity from the ground up, like last year.
Or maybe we’ll see some things get mixed up, as the 2022 Champion Nashville Stampede have already opted into some mayhem this spring by sending the first overall selection in this year’s draft to the Carolina Cowboys in exchange for riders Mason Taylor and Ednelio Almeida.
Regardless of what coaches and executives took away from the first two weeks of the combine, they’ll get an immediate chance to see a few of the prospects who spent the week in Pueblo compete at various levels.
“These riders here have this opportunity to be a part of the combine, to learn from the coaches, to be the best that they can be, but like anything else, it’s a limited window of opportunity, so we want to open it for them and hopefully they take advantage,” Lehner said.
With Dustin Martinez set to take on Lonesome Fugitive in Round 1 at the PBR First Premier Bank/Premier Bankcard Invitational, presented by Cooper Tires on Unleash The Beast Friday night, he’ll get right back to work Saturday challenging Country Roads at the Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour’s Casper Invitational. If he’s able to make the eight Friday, he’ll earn himself a trip back to Sioux Falls, North Dakota, Sunday for another go in Round 2 of the three-day UTB event.
Martinez, who spent some time hanging with the Kansas City Outlaws during the inaugural season of action, has proven he can get the job done, most recently increasing his stock with a second-place finish in the PWVT's event two weekends ago in Bangor, Maine.
Dakota Warnken, who declined an invite to the premier series tour this weekend en route to chasing a berth to the Velocity Finals, will attempt to ride Chainsaw Saturday in Casper, Wyoming, as one of the first riders to compete.
“At the end of the day, we are investing in these riders,” Lehner concluded.
“We’re investing in these riders. The league is investing in these riders and the owners are investing in these riders. We have to, because there isn’t a league without them.”
Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media