Cooper takes 10th place in bullriding at WCMB World Finals

Published 2:29 pm Monday, October 19, 2026

Reggie Cooper started riding bulls for rodeo in August of 2024 at the age of 12. Since then, he has become a world class rodeo bull rider. The Ozark High School freshman placed 10th in bull riding at the World Championship Miniature Bullriding Association’s (WCMB) World Finals in Mount Pleasant, Texas on Saturday, Oct. 5.

Over the last two years, Reggie has built an impressive resume in bull riding. He qualified and went to the WCMB World Finals and the Professional Youth Roughstock Association’s (PYRA) World Finals in 2025, and placed third at the 7C Rodeo Winter Series that same year. This year, he placed first in bull riding the Rockin KBar Summer Series, and currently is first in Senior Mini Bulls and third in Junior Bulls at the Junior Pro Bull Riders Summer Series. Next year, he will go to the Youth Bull Riders World Finals in Abilene, Texas.

Reggie’s inspiration to begin riding bulls came from his father.

“My dad did it a long time ago,” he said, “and I always used to think it was cool. So I begged my mom for years and then she finally said, ‘Yeah’”.

“They kind of did a sneak attack on me,” said Robin Cooper, Reggie’s mother. “I was at work, and I was in the middle of a work thing, and they called me and asked me. And I wasn’t paying much attention, and I just agreed.”

Reggie’s first rodeo was in Aurora. Like many first timers, he was very uncertain, but he said that feeling quickly passed.

“I was really nervous and scared,” he said, “but then, after I first did it, I realized it was really fun.”

To train for rodeos, Reggie balances himself on a basketball or a yoga ball and also goes to practice pens where he rides practice bulls. He also uses a bullriding barrel.

“We hung it from a tree,” he said, “and I basically just get on the barrel, and my dad will pull a string and it will buck basically, but I have to balance on it.”

Reggie said he goes to rodeos that are in keeping with his Christian faith. For example, he could have gone to the PYRA World Finals in addition to the WCMB World Finals, but chose not to do so.

“I just feel like the (WCMB) is more for the kids and more Christian and like God related,” he said. “Every day, we pray for the award ceremony and before the rodeo. And…it just feels like family at the WCMB. And then I go to the PYRA, and it’s basically like all partying and stuff.”

In addition to riding bulls, Reggie also makes his own special rosin that he uses for riding, which he also sells at a low cost to other bull riders.

“Kids buy really expensive rosin from other people, but my rosin is really cheap,” he said, adding that a large can costs $20, a medium can costs $15, and a small can runs about $5,

In addition to rodeo, Reggie takes part in theater and choir at Ozark High School. After he graduates, he plans to either go into rodeo fulltime or join the Marines. He said he then plans to attend college, major in sports medicine, and pursue a career in that field.