Documentary Brings Surfers, Oklahoma Bull Riders Together

A documentary is highlighting the similarities between Oklahoma bull riders and California surfers.

The documentary has taken them to California, Hawaii and now Oklahoma as film crews were at the Muskogee Civic Center Friday to get an inside look at the lives of Oklahoma bull riders at the BRI finals.

The sights and sounds of the BRI Finals bull pens in Muskogee are a far cry from the ocean waves of the Pacific, but for professional bull rider, Zane Cook, the two are becoming very similar.

"We're just kind of introducing them to our neck of the woods, you know, our stomping grounds," Cook said.

A Fort Gibson native and professional bull rider, Cook is just one of the athletes the production crew is getting to know.

He spent time in Hawaii learning to surf for the film Surfing Cowboys.

"I actually road my first wave that I ever stood up on," Cook said.

The film is the work of producer Bryan Jennings.

"They came into our world, the Hawaiian surfing world, and so then they invited us and said, ‘Hey come into our world," Jennings said. “We feel called to do what we do and what we love so there's a lot of similarities in surfing and the cowboy world."

The similarities are rooted in physical abilities and skills, but also in faith, a strong theme of the film that producers and characters say unites them all.

"It's just been such an amazing experience and getting to go and hang out with Christian guys who love God and that want to spread the word, and I'm just blessed for the opportunity to help with that," said Cook.

You can learn more about the documentary ?online?.