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Cheering for fund(s) and fun

By JASON M. REYNOLDS ~ jreynolds@t-g.com
Posted 7/7/17

A Shelbyville native will appear on a television show Sunday to compete for funds to grow her business, which is selling weighted pom-poms. Sherry (McChristian) Leetham will appear on "Steve Harvey's FUNDERDOME" Sunday at 8 p.m. on WKRN-TV (Channel 2). ...

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Cheering for fund(s) and fun

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A Shelbyville native will appear on a television show Sunday to compete for funds to grow her business, which is selling weighted pom-poms.

Sherry (McChristian) Leetham will appear on "Steve Harvey's FUNDERDOME" Sunday at 8 p.m. on WKRN-TV (Channel 2). The ABC show pits two inventors against one another to raise seed money to help their business idea. The inventor explains the product and the audience votes for the winner. The inventor has the option of accepting a lesser amount of money and leaving before the winner is announced.

*** ShamRock rocks

Leetham, whose nickname is "ShamRock," is a 1984 graduate of Shelbyville Central High School. She ran track and was a member of the dance troupe, The Half-Timers. At the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, she was a football manager and then a cheerleader.

Now a resident of Round Rock, Texas, she sells a product called PoundPoms, or pom-poms with a weight. The 1.2 pound pom-poms are meant to be used in workouts, said Leetham, a fitness trainer with 20 years' experience.

Leetham said she came up with the idea after many years of returning to UTC to cheer in homecoming games with other alumni. She returned every year with sore arms from all the waving of pom-poms. She realized that many cheerleading moves are similar to weight training moves. She decided to turn those cheerleading moves into cardio conditioning.

*** Exciting experience

The "FUNDERDOME" episode was filmed last October in Los Angeles. She learned on Oct. 6 that four days later she would be flying to California, where she spent a week meeting other contestants and getting her sales pitch ready.

"It was so exciting," Leetham said. "Out of thousands of entries you're selected. Someone is showing validation of your 'child' (or invention)."

Contestants do not meet host Steve Harvey prior to filming, she said. But meeting him was an experience.

"He was funny," she said. "He's just who he is."

Leetham, who worked at Empire Pencil during summers in college, still has Shelbyville ties. Her parents, William and Yvonne McChristian, live here -- Yvonne works in senior fitness at the Shelbyville Recreation Center.

Leetham's website is poundpoms.com.Sherry (McChristian) Leetham watches while Steve Harvey waves her weighted pom-poms on the set of "Steve Harvey's FUNDERDOME." The episode featuring the Shelbyville native will air Sunday at 8 p.m. on WKRN-TV (Channel 2).

Sherry (McChristian) Leetham is shown on the set of "Steve Harvey's FUNDERDOME."