Lifelong love of fishing led Matthew Champagne to Live Oak fishing team

Angling comes naturally for Live Oak High’s Matthew Champagne, whose love for fishing eventually brought him to the Eagles fishing team where he is, happily, just one of the guys on the team.

A senior special needs student, there has been no need for special circumstances since Champagne joined the fishing team. In the past year, he fished in eight of the Eagles’ nine tournaments. Although he didn’t catch fish at every tournament, there were three in which the weight totals of his catch were counted in Live Oak’s final team number.

Matthew’s mother, Rita Champagne, recently described some of the work he puts in at a tournament.

“One school might have one team and another might have 10, but there’s usually two anglers per boat. Matthew fished by himself so basically he did the work of two anglers,” Rita Champagne said.

Live Oak fans may recall Matthew Champagne from week 6 of the Eagles’ 2022 football season. Before Live Oak’s home game against Denham Springs, both teams lined up for a pregame snap, and he took a handoff before running to the end zone.

It was one of several senior-year highlights for Matthew Champagne, who was named The Advocate’s boys’ Special Olympics athlete of the year last week. He has competed in track and field, swimming and bowling in the Special Olympics, but he is still waiting for them to add fishing, his favorite sport.

“He’s been fishing since he was 2 or 3 years old,” Rita Champagne said. “It’s just something he enjoys doing. He fishes practically every weekend and so that interest led us to pursue participation on the high school fishing team.”

The initial contact between the Champagnes and Live Oak fishing coaches came during a 2022 fishing challenge event for kids with disabilities at Walker High.

“They told me that day they were going to find a way for Matthew to be a part of the team,” Rita Champagne said. “Matthew’s uncle agreed to be his boat captain, and they went to eight of the nine tournaments.”

“Live Oak is very inclusive and has been more than willing to accommodate him being on the team.”

Matthew Champagne usually just throws his catch back in the water, but it doesn’t take away from the excitement he feels when he reels them in. There was plenty of excitement for him at Toledo Bend this season.

“His favorite (tournament) was probably Toledo Bend because there was a lot of team bonding,” Rita Champagne said. “We did a lot of things together as a team, and he also weighed in three fish. That was the most he caught in one tournament.”

Not bad for a guy who is just another member of the Live Oak fishing team.