ProRodeo Sports News | March 4, 2022

CATCHING UP WITH ... JAKE BARNES

Gold Standard Kent Soule photo Jake Barnes and heeler Jaylen Eldridge teamed up and put together a 5.5-second run to win the first round at La Fiesta de los Vaqueros. Seven-time world champ team roper keeps busy with clinics, rodeos

BY JOLEE JORDAN, Special to the ProRodeo Sports News B usy. If there is one word that describes Jakes Barnes’ life today, that word is busy. The legendary seven-time PRCAWorld Champion Header hasn’t slowed down despite no longer beating his way up and down the rodeo road. “My main priority now is our schools,” said Barnes, 62. “We’re doing 20 to 30 a year, so it’s keeping us busy.” As he did for those seven world titles, Barnes partners in his roping schools with Clay O’Brien Cooper. The duo set the standard for team ropers in the 1980s and 1990s, winning the average at the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) three times and the National Circuit Finals Rodeo title four times. “Obviously, the sport has grown so much, and people are wanting to

learn,” Barnes said.

Not only do they offer in-person clinics, but the duo has also gone virtual too. “People are looking to the internet also. We post instructional videos weekly and answer questions online.” The online venture is Roping.com. “It could be just like rodeoing, if you want it to,” Barnes said of the demand for schools. “We usually gear up in March and go through June and then take a couple of months off for

Barnes

the summer. “It’s a lot different than it was when we were competing 365 days a year,” he said of the clinic schedule. “We were competing and doing the clinics and you did burn out on it all. “It’s not so bad now, you’re leaving just for short amounts of time

ProRodeo Sports News 3/4/2022

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