Becoming the B.C. Rodeo Association (BCRA) 2024 bull riding champion topped off one of the best rodeo seasons ever for Kyle Frizzi of Williams Lake.
"I've come in second place many times in my life in steer riding and bull riding but this was my first year winning it," he told Black Press Media.
This season, the 40-year-old competed in 35 rodeos and it was during the BCRA finals in Barriere that his performance garnered him the championship.
"I had my first go around and I was 87 points on a really good bull from Mulvahill Rodeo. My second bull at the finals I was 84 and on my last bull I was 87 again. Those were two of my best rides of the season right there."
Some of his other rides this season earned him 86s, 85s, and some 84s.
He also competed for the first time at the Professional Bull Rider (PBR) Invitational in Grand Prairie, Alta.
"That was my last ride of the season. It was a pretty big deal for me. It was the first PBR I'd ever been invited to," he said. "It was a real dream come true. The intensity inside that arena, words couldn't even explain it."
Frizzi said he decided in 2024 to step back from some of the bigger rodeos, such as the Williams Lake Stampede, to rodeo with his daughters Chloe Frizzi, 14, and Jayda Frizzi, 12.
"I made myself a promise that me and my kids were going to rodeo together this year and that's what we did. We travelled around B.C. camping. The memories we've been making have been unbelievable."
Chloe and Jayda have been riding steers for the past two years and just graduated from mini bulls and pony broncs, he said.
"There are some really cool events we have around here now for the kids. It is great. We are going to have a great group of kids coming up just because of these mini bulls and mini broncs I think. It melts my heart when I see all those kids, not just mine."
He was 13 the first time he rode a bull. They were visiting Hugh Bell's place in Houston, B.C. and Frizzi rode a bull in a roping pen. Hugh's son Robbie Bell was the 1996 and 1997 British Columbia Rodeo Association Champion Bull Rider and followed that up nationally with the Canadian bull riding championship in 1999 and 2000.
"He was my biggest inspiration when I was a kid and someone I looked up to all my life," Frizzi recalled. "He was the guy. The best Canadian we had at the time."
While Frizzi has had a lot of bumps, bruises and torn muscles over the years, his biggest injury was in 2023.
It was his second year back riding and the injury happened during the first practice of the season.
A bull ripped the femoral artery in his leg and set him back for two-and-a-half months.
"I had to have surgery. They had to split my leg from my hip to my knee. I had a lot of thoughts going through my head at that point. I was starting to wonder if I was doing it for a good reason."
His many concussions have also inspired him to preach the necessity for bull riders to wear helmets, he said.
"I don't like to see anyone riding without them anymore. Even in my generation I was the kind of a guy that never believed in helmets."
Now that he is older, he often thinks about the amount of head injuries he has had over the years.
"I know that those helmets are there for a reason. They are the best safety equipment around."
Eyeing the spring of 2025, Frizzi said he has not made any concrete decisions yet about his rodeo career.
"My body is getting up in age, but I'm not putting it behind me at all, no. I'm just going to see how the winter goes. I'm going to keep my body and my mind in good shape and I'm looking at it like I'm going to go hard at it but I am not saying a whole lot."
Standing 5'7" and weighing 155lbs, Frizzi keeps fit over the winters by exercising at Concrete Fitness in Williams Lake, who sponsors him.
"I have full access to the gym, and their physiotherapist donates time to me as well. My main go-tos are yoga, leg and core strengthening."
Yoga, he insisted, is his best possible way to stay flexible.
"I recommend it to everybody. It is the ticket for bull riding because it will keep you limber and agile."
Born in Williams Lake, he attended elementary school until Grade 3 and then his family moved to Lac La Hache and eventually Horse Lake just outside of 100 Mile House.
His mom and stepdad had a small farm and his mom, Tracy Gentry, broke and trained horses.
As a youngster, he competed in steer riding and barrel racing at Little Britches Rodeos.
"We had a boy in the BCRA last year, Kale Mikkelsen, barrel racing," Frizzi said. "He's a heck of a bull rider, just starting on the bulls, and he's a steer rider as well. I really encouraged him a lot to keep going with it. He was kind of embarrassed about barrel racing, but it took a lot of stress off him when I told him I did it too"
For work, Frizzi does steep-slope logging for Pioneer Logging.
"I spend my days high up on the mountains and am working on slopes anywhere from 75 to 100 per cent. We're the only one doing the winch logging right now. I run the buncher and do all the falling on the mountain."
Frizzi continues to work daily on mental battles, including addictions, he said, adding he wanted to close the interview with a final statement.
"You can fail at what you don't want so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love because life really is a dance," he said. "You learn as you go so don't worry about what you don't know. You can come back from anything in this world. It's all about your mindset."
The words, he explained, are words he speaks to anyone who may need motivation.
"They are words I have gathered that have helped me and I hope will inspire others."
