Schiffner to coach PBR Team Canada

By Janet Kanters Times Editor

Scott Schiffner, PBR Canada’s first-ever national champion and Olympic bull rider, has been named head coach of the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) Team Canada for the 2020 Global Cup.
Assisting Schiffner will be Canadian Professional Rodeo Association (CPRA) champion bull rider Tanner Girletz in the 2020 edition of the five-nation bull riding showdown.
The fourth edition of the PBR Global Cup, the only nation versus nation bull riding competition, will make its second stop at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Feb. 15-16, 2020. The new team tournament debuted in Edmonton in November 2017, visited Sydney, Australia, in June 2018, and most recently stopped in Arlington this past February.
At the 2020 WinStar World Casino and Resort PBR Global Cup USA, Schiffner and Girletz will lead a smaller contingent of riders, six cowboys and an alternate.
Crowned PBR Canada’s first-ever national champion in 2006, Schiffner is a 12-time PBR Canada Finals qualifier, winning the season-culminating event in 2013, and four-time PBR World Finals qualifier. Within the CPRA, the 39-year-old from Strathmore is a two-time Canadian Champion (2001 and 2012) and 18-time competitor at the Canadian Finals Rodeo (CFR).
Among his many other honors, Schiffner was the recipient of the Glen Keeley Award in 2007 as the top-earning Canadian in PBR competition, earned the Guy Weadick Award in 2011 for his embodiment of the cowboy spirit and the values exemplified at the Calgary Stampede, and was recognized as the Cowboy of the Year in 2012 by the CPRA.
As a professional competitor of more than 15 years, Schiffner, who retired in 2018, is no stranger to the team format. In 2002, he competed as a member of Team Canada at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics which featured rodeo for the second time in the sport’s history. Finishing just off the podium, Schiffner won the event’s second round with an awe-inspiring 92-point ride on Just Spoofin’.
Schiffner is also a four-time competitor for Team Canada at the PBR World Cup from 2007-2010. He was twice the Maple Leaf’s top performing rider, first in 2007 when Canada finished second, and then again in 2009 when the country concluded the international event third.
Girletz, who retired in 2017, will make his Global Cup debut in 2020 occupying the role of assistant coach for the first time in the nation’s history. Along with qualifying for the PBR Canada Finals six times, Girletz is the 2006 Canadian Champion bull rider and a nine-time CFR competitor. The Cereal, Alta. native is also familiar with the team format, riding at the PBR World Cup alongside Schiffner in 2007, 2009 and 2010. Girletz’s abilities were evident in 2009 when he stepped in as an alternate and went 2-for-2 to help Team Canada finish third.
Girletz also brings a wealth of bucking bull knowledge to the role, hailing from the legendary rodeo family behind Girletz Rodeo Stock. The family’s stock outfit has produced seven Canadian Bulls of the Year, along with countless bovine athletes that have bucked at the PBR World Finals including the likes of White Lightning, Moto Moto and Stunt Man Ray.
For more information on the event, visit PBR.com/GlobalCup.