PUEBLO, Colo. – To Kade Madsen, the 2023 PBR Team Series Draft was a “fairytale.”

The 18-year-old from Honeyville, Utah, had been waiting for his turn to hear his name called for a year, eager to follow in the footsteps of his older brother, Briggs Madsen.

The two are five years apart in age, and Kade says he followed his big brother onto the backs of bucking bulls.

“I come from a rodeo background,” he said. “My mom, she comes from a racehorse family, and my dad, he rode bucking horses and stuff like that. And my brother, Briggs, he’s really the one that wanted to start riding bulls. And I wanted to do what big brother was doing, so I started riding bulls, and the rest is history.”

The two rodeoed together before Briggs declared for the 2022 PBR Team Series Draft and was selected by the Oklahoma Freedom in the fourth round, 27^th overall.

“We’re the best of friends,” Kade said. “We travel everywhere together. It was honestly kind of hard when he got drafted – I kind of had to go on my own a little bit. But I went with him as much as I could, and he’s went with me as much as he could.”

Kade says he accompanied his brother to three PBR Team Series events last year, including the PBR Team Series Championship in Las Vegas, and was hooked immediately.

“I thought it was awesome,” he said. “I knew once I went to the first one that this was what I wanted to do with my career.”

He’s been biding his time ever since.

On May 17, Madsen finally joined his brother in the PBR Team Series ranks, selected by the Missouri Thunder with the No. 4 overall draft pick.

“I was really scared leading up to it,” Madsen said after he was picked, smiling. “I couldn’t sleep much last night. But now that it’s happened, I’m relieved, and I’m just excited to get this on the road.

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“I knew (head coaches Ross Coleman and Luke Snyder) a little bit before. Briggs is on the Oklahoma Freedom, so I kind of followed him around last year and got a feel for all the coaches and stuff. I met with Luke and Ross at the combine at Cody Lambert’s house, and they’re a really great team, and I’m excited to be a part of it.”

In very limited PBR action thus far, Madsen is a respectable 3-for-8 (37%). He won the Heart of Georgia Shootout Touring Pro Division event in April and last weekend placed fifth at the Challenger Series’ PBR Ocean City Seacrets Classic in Ocean City, Maryland.

Madsen competes this weekend at the Do Deadwood PBR Challenger Series event in Deadwood, South Dakota, taking on Clark (8-3, all levels) in Round 1 on Friday (9 p.m. on RidePass on Pluto TV).

The 2023 PBR Team Series season kicks off at Cheyenne Frontier Days in Cheyenne, Wyoming, on July 24-25. The Thunder won the season-opened in Cheyenne last season, and Madsen will join teammates Andrew Alvidrez, Marcelo Procopio Pereira, Luke Parkinson, Joao Lucas Campos, Eduardo Matos and Felipe Furlan in trying to make it two in a row.

Madsen is excited about the opportunity to ride for Snyder, with whom he shares some similarities.

“I kind of think that me and Luke are a little bit alike,” he said. “I think we kind of look alike, and our riding styles are a little bit alike in that way. I’m just really excited. I’m ready to see what’s in store this summer.”

Another thing he’s looking forward to is improving his riding, as Briggs had nothing but good things to say about what the Team Series did for his development.

“He said that it elevated his riding,” Kade said. “Going into it, he had a bit of tough luck coming off a church mission, and it really just got him around the right people and riding to the best of his ability. He’s really loved it, and I trust him with all my heart.”

It’s inevitable that should the two brothers remain on their respective protected rosters, they’ll square off against each other at some point this season.

It’ll add new stakes to a sibling rivalry that Kade says has always been lighthearted.

“It’s going to be really exciting to be able to go to the same events. We’ll be competing against each other at times, but it’ll be kind of like growing up,” he said, laughing. “I mean, obviously, we kind of practiced together, so we kind of tried to one-up each other, but it’s all fun and games.”

When Kade was drafted, he immediately got a text from Briggs that was also all fun and games.

“He texted me as soon as I got drafted and said I’d better start sharpening up on my Portuguese,” Kade said with a laugh.

The Thunder have an uphill climb ahead of them this season, having traded Colten Fritzlan to the Arizona Ridge Riders, and will be relying on a lot of younger, unproven talent to make the whistle in their quest for a championship, Madsen included.

But for now, with the summer ahead of him, Madsen is enjoying his status of draft pick and knowing he’ll be reunited with his brother.

“This right now is just kind of a fairytale. We’ll see what happens tomorrow,” he said with a laugh. “Just enjoying it right now.”

Photo courtesy of Josh Homer/Bull Stock Media