Jered Champion goes from super-jock to super-cheerleader

Zach Urness

Leader Staff

Losing a bet with friends can lead to some embarrassing situations. Being forced to run around the block naked, eating some unsavory looking bug or losing copious amounts of money are a few of the punishments generally bestowed on those coming out on the losing end of a friendly wager.

Jered Champion had to go out for the cheer squad.

"After losing the bet I had to go out for the cheer team," said Champion. "But I ended up really enjoying it."

Champion enjoyed it so much and had such a talent for it that— even though he only has two years of high school experience — he was invited to join the cheerleading team at the University of Montana next year, an activity he will receive a $750 annual stipend for.

Cheerleading has always been associated with being a girls' sport, but Champion said he learned that wasn't the case.

"You have to be a great athlete to be a good cheerleader," he said. "And you get beat up almost as badly cheerleading as you do in other sports. You can get banged up when you throw a girl up in the air and have to catch her, or when a group stunt falls apart and everybody lands on you."

Any stereotype that cheerleading is for girls is certainly negated by the 2007 Polson graduate, a lifetime jock, who, along with joining the cheer squad his senior year, played football, baseball, ran track and wrestled in high school.

Champion was one of four male cheerleaders at Polson, all of whom were athletes, and all of whom Champion said had to endure some grief from fellow students — some of which could get pretty ugly.

"I never paid much attention to the teasing," he said. "But some of the kids would say things like 'hey cheer queers' and stuff like that. The thing about it is the kids who did say stuff and tried to make fun of us really didn't have much going on for themselves."

"If you look at the guys who cheer in National championships, they're all huge, great athletes," Champion continued. "People don't realize how strong you have to be."

Champion started thinking about pursuing cheerleading in college as his high school athletic career began to come to a close.

"I was pretty much over competitive sports," he said. "So I decided to get involved in cheerleading in college. I got in touch with the coaches down there and it ended up working out."

Despite coming in as a freshman, Champion said that he expects to be on the "top squad" to start the season and will compete when the team competes in the Division I AA championship in Chattanooga this year.

Champion has already begun working out with the team at open gym and said the team practices three times a week, along with cheering at seven or eight games each week during the busiest time of the season.

"It's going to be amazing," he said of the upcoming season.

And even if it does end up being a lot of work, there is one aspect of being on the cheer squad that can peak the interest of any young male.

"The girls at Missoula are really pretty," said Champion. "So that's a pretty huge bonus."