Lansing State
Journal

Published February 19, 2006

[ From
the Lansing State Journal ]

Something to cheer about

Blood disease takes football
player off the field; cheerleading brings him back

By Susan
Vela

Lansing State
Journal

(Photo by CHRIS HOLMES/Lansing
State Journal)

Cheering the home team: Ian Powis, a former
basketball and football player, gets ready to lift cheerleader Alex Merritt
during a timeout in the action of a Potterville High School
home game.

POTTERVILLE - Cheerleading saved his senior year.

Yes, his.

Ian Powis is 6-feet-2-inches tall, 270
pounds and a cheerleader.

The Potterville
High School football
player turned to megaphones and stunts when a hereditary blood disorder
sidelined the left tackle after the third game of the Vikings' season last
year.

Blood clots had formed in Ian's leg, and doctors told him the
poundings he took while protecting the quarterback intensified the risks.

Clots are the body's normal response to physical trauma. But for
Ian, Factor V Leiden thrombophilia means they're
more likely to be deadly.

The medical news destroyed his dreams of a college football
career.

"I really thought my senior year just went down the
drain," said Ian, who at the time had the attention of several Division
III schools, including Albion and Alma
colleges.

"It was really quite devastating to both him and the
program when he couldn't play anymore," said football coach Paul Davis.
"He had worked so hard. Football really meant a lot to him."

After urging by some of the girls on the cheering squad and with
his own desire to stay involved in sports - Ian went to cheering tryouts last
fall. He made the team.

Turns out, Ian's resolve to cheer may have been the Hail Mary
play that saved his last year in high school.

Ian, 18, now tosses around the female teammates like he once did
a football - confident, controlled and with a true love for the sport.

"We started trying all these hard stunts," he said.
"It just started to become fun. I could see the competitive side of the
cheerleading."

Ian doesn't waste time on the what-ifs of his ruined football
career.

"You're always going to have a what-if unless you
win," he said. "If I didn't get the blood clots, I wouldn't be
cheerleading and I'd be missing out on a really good experience."

'A big teddy bear'

Michigan has about 13,500 high
school cheerleaders, but few are males, the Michigan Cheerleading Coaches
Association reports.

Locally, East Lansing
and Webberville high schools have had male cheerleaders. Potterville hasn't
had any since 2003-04.

Among his moves at Potterville's Feb. 3 basketball game against Bath, Ian jumped into
the air, extended his legs and reached toward his ankles. It's called a toe
touch.

It prompted Ian's mom, Terri, to burst into laughter.

"A guy that big, touching his toes," she said as she
sat in the stands, wearing a hooded sweatshirt that says "Powis" and "74," Ian's old football
number.

Ian isn't the only guy on the squad.

He persuaded two other football players to join him for the
basketball season.

"He played his heart out" at left tackle, said Zach Julson, who Ian had trained to replace him. "I was
just sorry that he couldn't play anymore."

Now, "it gives me ... a good feeling that he's doing
something other than sitting around bumming."

Known as the squad's stunt crew, Ian, Zach and Shaine McConnon hold, support
and heft nine female cheerleaders in an array of stunning feats.

Pyramids. Liberties. Basket tosses. It's a brave new world for
the boys.

"It's a big security blanket to know Ian Powis is standing underneath and is going to catch
them," cheerleading coach Susie Johnson said. The girls "look like
little Tinkertoys. (Ian) puts them gently down.
He's just like a big teddy bear.

"As soon as he started learning how to do the stunts, he
was addicted. You could just tell."

With the three guys on the 12-member cheering squad, Potterville
has taken top honors at two cheerleading competitions. They've scored firsts
and seconds in competitions in St. Johns and Byron Center.

Cheerleader Brittany Keefer helped persuade Ian to try out for
the squad last fall. "He's just strong," she said. "We feel
more confident" with Ian on the floor.

Having football players on the squad also made the season more
fun, Brittany, a senior, said.

Baseball still possible

Ian also played varsity basketball before Factor V Leiden put an
end to that, too. Still, he holds out hope for his No. 1 sport - baseball. He
is a catcher, known for presence behind the plate.

Dr. Ed Ball, the Powis family's
doctor, hated telling Ian he wouldn't be able to play football. Ian, he said,
couldn't afford taking 40 or 50 hits per game.

Baseball is another matter.

"It's less likely to cause a bleeding problem," Ball
said. "He could get hit in the head with a baseball. He could get hurt slipping
and falling on the ice, too. He understands that."

Ian, who expects to take anti-coagulant medicine for the rest of
his life, is thinking about trying out as a walk-on baseball candidate for Eastern Michigan University,
where he's already been accepted as a student.

And if he can't get on a team, he said, there's always
cheerleading.

He said becoming a Potterville cheerleader was one of the few
positive outcomes of being diagnosed with Factor V Leiden.

"It's been an awesome experience," Ian said.
"Now, I'd probably even choose cheerleading over basketball."

Van Powis, his father, who has shed
tears knowing that he passed Factor V Leiden to his son, never thought he'd
travel around the state to see Ian compete against cheerleaders. Nor did he
think the family, including Ian's younger brother, Heath, would spend time
talking about the latest stunt or routine Ian learned.

But Ian has always been one to play with his heart and give his
best.

"He's found another true team sport," Van Powis said.