RMPRA member Clint Kap – John Golom
story by Terry Rhodes
By the time this issue of Rodeo News gets to his mail box, Clint Kap and his wife-to-be and high school sweetheart, Brandi Balliett will be in the final stages of preparing for their wedding on October 2, 2015. “We will be starting a new journey together. We’ve been dating for nine years. She’s in the RMPRA too and competes in the breakaway and in the goat tying.”
It was pretty natural that Clint Kap would get into the world of rodeo. “All of my family has been in rodeo. My dad roped calves. My uncle did pretty much everything, he rode broncs, and team roped. All my siblings have been in rodeo, so I thought that I’d follow in their footsteps.”
With a solid foundation in the sport, Clint had successful high school and college rodeo careers. “I rodeoed in the Utah High School Rodeo Association for four years and went to the Silver State Finals in my senior year. I rodeoed for Weber State University for four years and in my first year I was the Reserve Calf Roping Champion for the Rocky Mountain Region.” Clint majored in design graphics and engineering technology.
Preparation for competition is based on the concept of perfect practice. “You can’t make the perfect run but you can minimize your mistakes. And depending on the conditions you have to be able to know when to make a fast run or safety up and just get one caught. So, I like to practice these different scenarios and be ready for the situation at hand.” Clint has a competitive drive that keeps him motivated and striving for excellence. “I have guys that I have looked up to, but you have to be as good as or better than them in order to win rodeos. And that has always been my goal is beat the guys that I have looked up to. My thought is, if you aren’t out practicing, then someone else is. You can’t strive to get better sitting on the bench.” He has a strong work ethic and believes that when he isn’t practicing, there is someone else out there that is practicing.” Clint has no shortage of horses to practice on and says, “I like having a few horses to practice on. This helps me keep my roping sharp and my horses sane with all the practice that I put in each week. All of my horses are different and have their own unique personality. I think having that many different types of horses has helped me become a better rider and roper.”
Clint, 27, has been in the Rocky Mountain Pro Rodeo Association since its start and likes being part of it. “It’s a fun place to hang out. The people and contestants are great, the board is good to work with, and good to be around. I get to just about all of them.” His events are calf roping and team roping. He is a USTRC member and is planning to get his PRCA permit next year. Brandi is also in the RMPRA and competes in the breakaway and goat tying.
He grew up in Hooper, Utah and now lives in West Haven. Currently, Clint is working at Hill Air Force Base so school is on hold but he plans to resume his pursuit of his degree in the near future. “I start work at 5:30am and get off at 3:00pm six days a week but lately we’ve been doing a lot of overtime so it has been tough to get to rodeos.” Leisure time revolves around horses and roping. Goals for the future are make the Wilderness Circuit Finals. “If that works out, then I’d like to go to some of the bigger rodeos and try to make the NFR. Of course that’s everybody’s goal.”
