Mochmar goes from high school football player to college cheerleader

At 5-foot-9 and 200 pounds, Jordan Mochmar was considered undersized as a high school offensive and defensive lineman for the Kamiak Knights.

Still, Mochmar found a way to excel.

As a senior, he was a first-team All-Wesco defensive lineman and was selected to represent Kamiak in the annual East-West All-State football game in July. It turned out to be Mochmar’s last competitive football game as a player, but he won’t be far from the action this fall when he attends Washington State University.

Mochmar may have been undersized to be a lineman, but turns out his body type is perfect for another sport — cheerleading.

Mochmar tried out for and made the cheerleading squad at WSU and will cheer at home football, basketball and volleyball games this year. Mochmar’s build lends itself to a very specific type of cheerleading known as partner stunting. Basically, partner stunting involves a male and a female cheerleader where the male throws and catches the female.

“The body type for partner stunting in cheerleading is a lot like football, but shorter,” Mochmar said. “It’s pretty usual for football players (to become cheerleaders) that don’t always make it in to college football based on height or coaches aren’t looking or they just aren’t good enough.”

Mochmar’s path from high school football star to college cheerleader began when he was a junior in high school. Friends Lindsey Clayburn and Lindsy Russell, who were also Kamiak cheerleaders and knew Mochmar had a background in gymnastics, got him to attend some open gyms and begin working with them at Leading Edge Gymnastics Academy in Everett.

“We tried it and I kind of got into it,” Mochmar said.

Russell recalls that Mochmar was a natural.

“He picked it up so fast,” Russell said. “I wanted him to try out for the University of Washington on my team just because of how fast he was able to pick up skills and how great of a teammate he would have been. He’s just strong. When I stunt with him I feel so safe.

“Our tumbling coach would tell him to do something and he would say, ‘OK.’” Russell added. “He would try it and he would usually get it on the first try. It made me a little mad because I was jealous, but it was good for him.”

Mochmar never joined the cheerleading squad at Kamiak because partner stunting wasn’t a part of the program, but he continued to practice with Clayburn and Russell when he got the chance. He also got a job coaching gymnastics and cheerleading to kids ages 2 through 15 where it all started at Leading Edge Gymnastics.

When his senior season in football came to an end, Mochmar accepted that he had likely played his final competitive game, but then the invite to the All-State game came.

Mochmar was honored to be asked to play, but said the experience did help him realize it was time to move on from football.

“Before the all-state game I was really thinking, ‘oh my gosh, I’m going to miss football,’ but now after that experience I really think that I’m ready to be on the sidelines and enjoy watching,” Mochmar said. “I love watching football and being able to be right there at every home football game is just awesome. It’s great.

“After I played in the all-state game, I really realized that I’m content with not playing football anymore. It’s just becoming so competitive and so difficult to be able to play at that high of a level. When I look out there, I’ll just see myself getting wrecked and destroyed, hurt or all messed up from trying to play at a level that I’m just not ready for.”

But cheerleading felt right for Mochmar.

Russell said the leadership qualities that Mochmar showed as a captain on the football team carried over into cheerleading.

“When we did tumbling classes he would always push me,” Russell said. “He knows my ability and he would always push me to go above and beyond. That’s another trait that a lot of my friends that are cheerleaders also have. They’re always very positive and believing in people. He has some captain skills that just put him above a lot of other athletes.”

When Mochmar tried out for the cheerleading squad at WSU, all of the hard work he’d been putting in on his own paid off.

“I never expected to be able to get on to a team this big and this well-known,” Mochmar said. “Tryouts were open. It was like a $20 fee or something. I just showed up in Pullman and tried out and sure enough I made it.”

Being a male cheerleader hasn’t always been easy. Even in recent years, male cheerleaders would sometimes encounter ridicule from other athletes or classmates.

Perhaps being a captain and one of the best players on the Kamiak football team had something to do with it, but Mochmar said his friends and classmates were nothing but supportive.

“I haven’t really encountered any of that stuff personally,” Mochmar said. “I’ve heard about it, but no one has actually came up to me and said anything about it. Everything I’ve heard is positive.”

Mochmar added that he thinks the male cheerleader stigma has changed in recent years.

“I really think there is more of an understanding of where it is (now) because these guys look like football players — some of them look like body builders,” he said.

“They’re big strong guys that get to throw around pretty girls.”

Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on Twitter at @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.