Be the reason an athlete gets help
Partner with us
Every day, rodeo athletes reach out looking for someone to turn to after a serious injury, a concussion, a mental health struggle, or the uncertainty that comes when they can no longer compete.
Western Sports Foundation connects those athletes with trusted care and removes the cost barrier between an athlete and the help they need.
Every athlete who reaches out has already done the hardest part: asking for help. Our job is to make sure the answer is yes.
Our partners make that possible.
The Gap We’re Filling
Rodeo is unlike nearly every other professional sport.
The athletes who compete are independent contractors. They pay their own entry fees, carry their own insurance, and absorb the financial realities that come with pursuing a career in western sports.
It's not that anyone is neglecting athlete care. It's that the sport was never built with a dedicated system to provide it.
That's where Western Sports Foundation comes in.
When an athlete needs counseling, neurological care, catastrophic injury support, or guidance for what's next, we're able to say yes because companies, foundations, and individuals have chosen to make that care possible.
A partnership with WSF isn't simply supporting a nonprofit.
It's making sure the next athlete who reaches out has somewhere to turn.
WHY WSF?
For more than 28 years, Western Sports Foundation has stood beside rodeo athletes through some of the most challenging moments of their lives.
Today, we provide access to mental health counseling, neurological care, catastrophic injury support, personal development, and educational opportunities that help athletes thrive during competition and long after their careers end.
Athletes come to us through trusted referrals from fellow competitors, coaches, contractors, families, and industry partners. That trust has been earned over decades by showing up when it matters most.
We're not just responding to crises.
We're helping athletes build healthier, stronger futures.
When you don’t want to say it Out loud
Rodeo takes care of its own. But there are things you don't want to tell your buddy — that you're not sleeping, that the money's a problem, that you've been dreading the drive to the next one. In a sport built on toughness, the weight you carry quietly is the heaviest thing in the truck.
We put a licensed counselor on the other end. Confidential, free, and no one at WSF ever sees who called.
About $130 a session. Partners keep that line answered.
TWO: INJURY & RECOVERY CARE
When the head takes the hit
A hit doesn't have to knock you out to change things. The fog, the headaches, the temper that isn't yours. Most athletes ride through it, because the alternative is telling someone you're not right.
We cover the full workup: evaluation, specialists, and travel to doctors who understand these injuries. Not to end a career. To get an athlete an answer while they still have one.
About $10,000, all in. Partners are why we say yes without checking the balance first.
When the income stops
An injured rodeo athlete doesn't go on the disabled list. They go to zero. No salary, no team insurance, no paid leave, just a truck payment, a mortgage, and entry fees they can't earn back until they're healthy.
We cover the bills while they heal, so recovery isn't a choice between their body and their family.
$4,000 to $10,000. Partners make that grant possible.
When you’re building what’s next
The best time to prepare for life after competition is while you're still competing. Almost nobody does, because the sport asks for everything right now.
Financial literacy, so a good year doesn't disappear before the next one. Career tools and resumes, so there's something to walk toward. Coaching that makes athletes better now and outlasts the riding.
About $1,000 for six months. Partners fund what comes next.
When Education is the answer
Some athletes never fill out a form. They're twenty years old, three states from home, and asking a foundation for help hasn't crossed their mind.
So we go to them: events, college rodeos, high school finals, putting mental health and brain health in front of athletes before a crisis makes it urgent.
Partners underwrite these events and can be there when they happen.
When the need is bigger than a category
Sometimes what an athlete needs has no line item.
A spinal cord injury that means the difference between a wheelchair and walking again with an exoskeleton. A vehicle modified so a father can drive his kids to school again.
Rare, expensive, and life-changing. They're the ones we're proudest of, because saying yes meant having a fund that wasn't earmarked and a board willing to move on it.
Partners are what make an unrestricted yes possible.
When the worst happens
Rodeo loses people. Everyone in this sport knows it, and everyone competes anyway.
When it happens, the shock moves fast, through the traveling partners, the people who were at that event, and the ones lining up at the next one three days later.
We send counselors to be with them. Not weeks later. That week, while everyone is still standing in the same arena, trying to figure out how to get back on.
We are proud to name the following brands as WSF partners. Without their support, we would not be able to fulfill our mission.
