From cheerleader with a mentor to cheer coach and mentor herself, Jessica Cruse teaches the power of kindness and confidence to area youth through NWI Champion Force Athletics.
Cruse started cheering at age eight in what was then called Young Champions at Woodland Park. Having played soccer, basketball and volleyball, Cruse clearly has a love for sports. When Champion Force was new to the area, Cruse and her older sister got a flyer from school and decided to try it out and joined. Soon after, their mom even got involved as a parent helper and secretary.
At age 12, Cruse started assistant coaching, and by 16, she was coaching the five teams in Portage known as P-Town. Now at age 22, cheering has seen Cruse through college and the start of her new career as an ABA Paraprofessional.
Cruse thanks her mentor, KT, for giving her opportunities with Champion Force.
“She was the coach that took me on as an assistant coach and head coach,” Cruse said. “She has been like a second mother to me. Going through high school and college, she has given me just so much advice on adult stuff, making big decisions, helping me make decisions, guiding me to make better choices about job choice and my major, definitely helping me balance school and cheer and a job.”
Not only has Cruse stuck with coaching through the challenges of pursuing her career ambitions, but she has also persevered through the difficulties brought on by the pandemic.
“With COVID, it was extremely hard to follow the rules and regulations and keep up on the cleaning and contact tracing and all that stuff, but just seeing the kids every week having some funny story to tell me or if they just come in and say, ‘I love you!’ and give me a hug; that’s what keeps me going,” Cruse said.
Over her ten years in coaching, Cruse has watched so many kids grow and excel. She really enjoys when her cheerleaders’ younger siblings decide to join, too, and she gets to know the whole family.
“It’s a great little family to have, especially when I see kids move to higher teams and when they get new skills and are so excited, that’s the best,” Cruse said.
Cruse likes what Champion Force brings to the community with its affordability and flexible time commitment.
“A lot of people can fit it into their schedule with it only being one practice a week,” Cruse. “That makes it easy for a lot of people, especially for parents who have a lot of kids and a hard work schedule.”
Recently, Champion Force has made a few changes in an attempt to bring its cheer community together. Previously, the teams were divided by town, whereas now they are all NWI Champion Force Athletics.
“We kind of, after COVID, had a rough time with our numbers and having kids come back, so we just kind of wanted to bring the gym together and give us one big solid team name,” Cruse. “We merged our teams together so now we have big strong teams. Each night and each level have a different name. Mondays and Wednesdays offer the same levels but just two different days.”
Cheerleaders can join either the Monday team or Wednesday team, whatever fits their schedule best.
“We’ve got people from St. John, Hammond, Kouts, all over,” Cruse said.
In addition, Champion Force stands out as an inclusive sport organization.
“I’ve had a lot of athletes who have special needs or need special accommodations, and we are always willing to work with any person, any size, any athletic skill,” Cruse said. “It’s for anybody. That’s the best part. It’s just a safe place for all children. Anybody’s welcome.”
As an ABA Paraprofessional, Cruse spends her days working with children as well. Cruse recently graduated from Valparaiso University with a degree in Psychology in Social Work. She now practices behavior therapy at Chesterton’s Life Strategies, LLC and works with children who have autism.
Clearly, she is driven by her passion for helping kids reach their goals. Cheering for others is a big part of who Cruse is, and she knows it is a balance of work and play.
“When I have my younger teams, it’s definitely an outlet because I just want them to have a good time, you know they’re still learning skills and working on a routine,” Cruse said. “We play games with them. They get candy. They tell us about their dogs and everything. They give hugs, all that good stuff. My older teams definitely feel like more work because we’re working for those national titles. So, it is an outlet, and it’s work.”
Not only is Cruse hardworking and dedicated, but she is also fun and adventurous. After dating for seven years, Cruse and her boyfriend found themselves in Vegas on vacation after visiting friends in California and spontaneously decided to marry. Her loving and supportive family didn’t think it was too far out of line with Cruse’s fun-loving personality. She loves to live life to the fullest.
When she is not busy at her day job or coaching position, Cruse spends time with her new husband and one-year-old puppy, Penny.
She recently enlisted her husband in building a computer for her to explore a new hobby: video gaming.
“I just picked up video gaming on the computer. APEX and War Zone are probably my two favorite games right now," Cruse said. “The few boys that I have in cheer, I get them to kind of talk to me more when I bring up ‘Oh, I video game, too. I play Fortnite,’ and they’re like ‘I play Fortnite!’”
Cruse has gone to Nationals with her teams fourteen times, placing at four to five of the competitions.
“I think what they really want to do is definitely place. They work hard for it. But probably their favorite thing about going is just getting the opportunity to perform on a huge stage and have fun,” Cruse said.
“I definitely hope compassion and hard work and just kindness to others is what they take away from cheer. Those are definitely the life skills I try to incorporate in my classes.”