Kade Bruno: Athletics Created Habits for Success

Kade Bruno credits wrestling and football for his athletic and mental development. 

With a family history in the rodeo arena, Kade Bruno’s love of riding bucking horses was a natural progression. But the desire, knowledge, and talent to do it well started a long way from the dirt.

He grew up in the community of Challis, Idaho, where agriculture and nature live side by side. He is the middle child sandwiched between sisters. They all competed in a variety of sports, including rodeo. Kade’s father, Mike, rode bulls and weekends were made for the family to compete. 

Kade started riding sheep when he was four years old, about the same time he got on the mat to wrestle. He continued to wrestle through high school. He added football to his athletic pursuits in junior high and even played basketball one year. 

From the gridiron to the wrestling mat and the dust of the rodeo arena, Kade has learned lessons and developed habits that have helped him to become one of the best saddle bronc riders in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). 

Kade joined the PRCA in 2020, just one year after graduating from high school. He was also competing for Wyoming’s Sheridan College. Starting a rodeo career during the pandemic offered a new set of challenges, but he powered through and in 2021 and finished 28^th in the world standings. 

In 2022, he qualified for his first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo and finished the season in 11^th place. He is now headed to Las Vegas for the fourth time to compete for a gold buckle. He came close to that goal in 2023 finishing third. With just two weeks left in 2025’s regular season, he is well inside the top 15 at sixth. 

In high school, Kade participated in multiple rodeo events and even rode bulls into his college career. When injuries from bull riding kept him from getting on bucking horses, he hung up his bull rope and only gets it out when he needs a mental reset to remind him how much he loves riding bucking horses. 

The similarities between football and riding bucking horses might seem like a stretch. When Kade was playing in high school, he weighed in at 160 pounds, then had to trim down to wrestle at 132. He learned a lot about his body and what it takes to be disciplined. 

“Through it all, I leaned how to win, and learned how to lose,” he said. “Competing at a high level from a young age, overcoming adversity are all lessons I learned growing up and playing sports. It put me towards having a winning mindset. I think that’s good for rodeo and good for life.”

To participate in sports, you have to show up. Going to practices and the preparation for the game are much more a part of the participation than the actual competition. That also is similar to rodeo. That created healthy habits for Kade. 

“When we showed up to practice, we would jog a couple of laps, then stretch and go into whatever was next,” he added. “I try to do the same with my rodeo. I want to keep the mentality and habits I learned. I try to do the same thing every time I show up. It’s a process and I think that process was developed from having disciplined practices in other sports.” 

The preparation is just part of what Kade got out of sports. The connection between football and rodeo’s steer wrestling is often fodder for our announcers. He played running back, receiver and was a middle linebacker. 

“I learned about last chance efforts from football,” he said. “You could be chasing a guy down the sideline, and you can either give up or try to catch him. I think that relates to rodeo in a big way. It’s like if a horse is a little bit ahead of you, you have that last chance effort to lift on your rein and get back in time. It’s those now or never moments. You might not realize it at the time, but playing high school sports can set you up. The mentality it gives and the effort that you give out – that rolls over into whatever you are doing.” 

While he enjoyed the team atmosphere in football and had some success there in high school, wrestling was really his jam. He won multiple state championships and had opportunities to compete at the collegiate level. 

“The biggest thing that wrestling taught me was about being disciplined,” he explained. “In wrestling, you’re not relying on any team. It is you by yourself out there and your performance is inevitably how you are going to end up on that day. From cutting weight to training, it is such a technical sport. At the end of the day, I feel like that is what gave me my competitive edge in rodeo as well. 

“From doing the little things right to doing the big things right and being disciplined. That was the mental side of it. I think wrestling helped me more than anything. You can’t rely on anybody else. It’s just you out there. I think that helps a guy when he goes on to rodeo later on. You look at a lot of really good rodeo guys and they have a wrestling background.” 

It’s not just the good habits and discipline that Kade relies on to be successful in the arena. He also realizes that he only has himself to answer to, and that his love of riding bucking horses is not enough to make him successful. 

“You have to have self-accountability first, self-drive and self-discipline. Nobody can ride that horse for you. When you crawl down in that bucking chute, it’s you and you only. I think that playing sports from a young age has given me a better understanding of that today.”

Kade is very grateful for the foundation that sports gave him and he credits a lot of that to John Piva, who was his wrestling coach growing up. And if the name sounds familiar, it should. John’s nephew, Ruger Piva, qualified for the 2021 NFR in the bull riding. 

In 2016, when Kade was a sophomore, the National Wrestling Hall of Fame recognized John Piva with the Lifetime Service to Wrestling award. He is still working with the young people of Challis and is definitely someone Kade still talks to regularly. In fact, he is always on Kade’s guest list for a couple of nights in Las Vegas. 

“He’s a good friend of the family and he made a huge impact on the mental aspect of me wrestling and then going into the real world. He supported us no matter what we decided to do. He was one of the best coaches you could find and made a big difference in my life.”