As the assistant rodeo coach at West Texas A&M University, breakaway roper Jordan Jo Fabrizio is in a position to influence a new wave of athletes who may compete like she has on the world stage. It’s a job she takes seriously because she takes her students’ success seriously.
“I tell them to approach competition just like their job,” Fabrizio explains. “I tell them that the decisions they make - the way you set your life up - is a big part of their success. If they treat it like a job, the result will be for them to go on to be successful business people. I love trying to help them accomplish their goals.”
Fabrizio knows a thing or two about working hard. In addition to coaching, she is the president and CEO of Fabrizio Marketing, a full-service outfit that can handle website design and social media management. She also helms the breakaway roping podcast, “In The Loop.”
“Oh, I can talk,” she says with a laugh. “We started in April, and I just did my 35th episode. I’m learning that there are moms and daughters and wives and business owners who have great stories to tell. It’s a privilege to be able to tell them.”
Fabrizio’s workday doesn’t stop with her coaching, marketing business, and podcast - she’s set to unveil a new app based on her text-based service that provides event information and calendars to subscribers, juniors to professionals.
The service has been a hit, she says.
“They love it because there were so many rodeos this year,” Fabrizio explains. “They’re in different time zones, so unless you’re OCD, you don’t know what’s going on.
Jordan Jo’s new app, which will be ready in February, will offer a breakaway roping event calendar, maps, deadline alerts, registration alerts, and reminders of when breakaway roping registrations are closing.
Helping other breakaway ropers reach their full potential is something Jordan Jo Fabrizio is passionate about. One of her goals is to celebrate other breakaway ropers and their accomplishments.
“At this level, we all enter to win and enter to compete, but we’re not competing against each other,” she says. “I really want to focus on how well these women do and to say, ‘You did an awesome job - congratulations.’ It’s not a mark against me if someone else does well.”
Fabrizio is grateful for breakaway roping and what it has done for her both professionally and personally.
“It has saved my life,” she says. “There are so many girls who look up to people who rope. In or out of the arena, I can help other girls, and I take that very seriously. You never know who might be watching. I strive to be better every day.”
