September 27, 2018 500 AM
PRESIDIO – Marty Lee Martinez, 16, a Presidio High School junior, has been busy this school year bull riding in competitions sponsored by the Texas High School Rodeo Association (THSRA) region 2. Beginning in September, Martinez began competition at the High School Rodeo held on Sept 8-9 in Levelland. In order to qualify for the ride, a bull rider must stay on the bull for at least 8 seconds. Martinez clocked a time of 5.18 seconds at the Levelland rodeo on September 8-9. His next rodeo was September 15-16 in San Angelo and he had a time of 7.67. Last weekend’s meet in Sweetwater wasn’t as good a day as he didn’t stay on the bull. “Next for March, I want to be prepared for that one,” said Martinez about the last round of rodeos in Abilene, before the finals. “I have to stay on two bulls to go to state,” he said. “Marty began steer riding at a young age, eight or nine years old,” said his mother Monica Covos Martinez. From there he gravitated to bull riding this year. Marty Lee added, “We went to a rodeo one day, we watched the bull riding and I got interested. I began with steers, then I kept riding, then around 2011 I got hurt, and quit, but I tried to get back in this year. I kept practicing. Bull riding I began in August of this year.” “I get nervous before the event, but once I am on the bull, I block it out,” Martinez said. Martinez said he was influenced by his father, Marty Martinez, and his father’s family, the Martinez family of Fort Davis who have a history of being horseman. “Hopefully I keep on practicing my technics and hopefully I go to state to get good experience,” he said. Sponsors for Marty Lee include his grandmother Maribel Aranda, Arisdel and Mila Hernandez, and Presidio businesses including Big Bend Banks, Kleinman Consultants, Montana Western Wear, Ramos Livestock and Martinez Welding. Other sponsors are RCA Welding of Kermit and A&D Trucking of Odessa.
