0:02

Thousands of young women all across the

0:04

Southeast dream of being Top Cats,

0:07

but only a select few experiencing.

0:09

Veteran analyze. Coleman says that right

0:11

before games she feels like she imagines

0:14

the players field. I always tell people

0:16

this, The tunnel is my favorite part

0:19

because it's just like no other feeling

0:21

than like when you hear the gyrons

0:23

go in the tunnel, music starts

0:26

and everybody's screaming. It's just

0:29

like I almost cry every single time. Up

0:31

next, The Elegant Annalyes on

0:33

the podcast five

0:37

Seasons of Panthers Football, a

0:39

celebration of the players, coaches, and

0:41

other people who have contributed to the organizational

0:44

success. No to mc

0:46

nixon, the Carolina Panthers

0:48

not only aspire to great things on the football field.

0:51

The Panthers also have the elite dance

0:53

and cheer team in the National Football League. It's

0:56

been a huge part of the history of our franchise.

0:58

Who better to represent the top Cats

1:00

then veteran Top Cat Analyies Coleman

1:03

from Jacksonville, North Carolina.

1:05

She's been on the squad now for for five

1:07

years. Welcome. Is there pressure

1:10

on you being a Top Cat? Emily's um

1:13

for sure. Um, we

1:15

have little girls that look up to us, especially

1:17

at junior top Cats and so,

1:19

um, we're always striving, like you said, to be the

1:21

best jeerliney team, which we are um

1:24

in the NFL. UM. But

1:27

it's really it's really fun. There's

1:29

not that much pressure on us. And like since I've

1:31

been on the team for five years,

1:33

it gets a little easier, but that first

1:35

year definitely pressure for

1:38

sure. Your dad was retired

1:40

military. When were you first

1:43

deciding as a young anilies Coleman

1:45

and where were you when you first decided

1:48

I want to be a top Cat? Um. So, I

1:50

actually was at a game with my parents

1:52

and I was sixteen, and I was watching

1:55

only then only the top Cats, Like I didn't

1:57

care anything about what was going on in the full

2:00

ball field where winning are losing. I was

2:02

just like, wow, like they're great. And

2:04

so I told my mom, and you can ask her

2:06

this. I looked at her and I said, when I'm twenty

2:08

one, I'm going to try out. And she was

2:10

like, okay, whatever. And

2:13

so when I turned twenty one, that was

2:15

my goal. And I had that goal

2:17

since I was sixteen, and I was

2:19

like blessed and fortunate enough to make

2:21

the team when I was twenty one and

2:24

I've been on it ever since. So it's

2:26

a hard squad to make. Many try

2:29

out and only a few actually

2:31

get to spend the dream

2:34

were you tell me about your tryout process?

2:37

Was that intimidating it all for you? My

2:40

first year trying out, I

2:42

walked in and I was like, oh,

2:44

there was at least like two people

2:47

there, and I was like, wow,

2:50

like this is a lot. And I

2:52

remember one Top Cat that I didn't even

2:54

know. She just came up to me. She

2:57

was so kind um, and

2:59

that just relaxed my nerves a lot, and

3:02

so that was really helpful. And

3:04

I also was told to go in the first

3:06

group of people. I didn't get it

3:08

over with, so that's what I did. And

3:10

so I went in the first group and I just sat

3:12

there and I was like, you know, this

3:15

is scary, but I made it. So

3:18

if it wasn't for Um

3:20

Magdalene, that's who came up to me,

3:22

and then she ended up being my captain. Um

3:24

just coming up to me and talking to me and like easing

3:27

my nerves, I don't know if I would have made it.

3:30

So I'm grateful for her for sure. Top

3:33

Cat Analyis Coleman, our guest on the

3:35

podcast, is your given first name? Rihanna

3:37

lise Um.

3:40

That is my Instagram name and my

3:42

teammates call me that all the time because I love Rihanna.

3:45

I want to look like I want to be Rihanna, but I'm

3:47

not Um. But if you would

3:49

say anything about Rihanna, I'm like, what are you guys talking

3:51

about? Like anybody knows that about

3:53

me if they really know. Why do you like Rihanna?

3:55

I just think she's so beautiful and she's

3:58

so like sure of herself and

4:00

she's just great. That's pretty

4:02

much it. What does it feel like analy's

4:05

too have that uniform

4:07

on, to have trained, have rehearsed,

4:09

and then lead the Carolina Panthers

4:11

out into the sunlight at Bank of America

4:14

Stadium on game day? There is I

4:16

always tell people this, The tunnel is

4:18

my favorite part because it's just

4:20

like no other feeling than like when you

4:22

hear the sirens go and

4:25

the tunnel music starts and everybody's

4:28

like screaming. It's just like

4:30

I almost cry every single time because

4:32

it's just like I don't even know how to

4:34

explain it, but it's amazing. What

4:37

does it feel like to be at events and

4:39

have little girls look up to you with the idolatry

4:42

and the admiration that they do. It's just for

4:45

me, and I'm sure the rest of my teammates

4:47

feel this way. You just want

4:49

to be that top cat for that little

4:51

girl, UM, and you just want

4:53

to strive to just be the best top cat that

4:56

you can be so one day they can be like, oh I met

4:58

top cat Ana lies and I

5:00

came to try out when she's twenty

5:02

one, UM, and like be

5:05

that person that they look up to. So

5:08

you guys, do a great job, and at least

5:10

you you, UM, you and your teammates, you represent

5:13

the Panthers not only on the field but at events

5:15

in hospitals. You've been at the super Bowl, you've

5:17

been overseas. We'll talk about that in a second. Are

5:19

there rules either unwritten or written

5:22

for your decorum, behavior, attire,

5:24

etcetera. Um, there is a

5:26

rule called top cat time, and

5:29

I'm pretty sure I did it today,

5:31

And we just show up everywhere like an hour early,

5:34

and it doesn't matter what's going

5:37

on. I show up to the doctor an hour early because

5:39

of top cat time. And every top cat

5:41

can attest to this rule. We just do

5:43

that, like we have when we have practice. People

5:46

probably don't know this, but we come to practice in hour

5:48

early and practice before practice. We

5:50

call it like pre practice. So it's a

5:52

little secret for everybody that we get everywhere

5:54

in our early we're very punctual people. And

5:57

you just learned that as a top cat. That's so not

6:00

aennial. I know

6:02

that. I'm so impressed by Early

6:05

today for your podcast. It's just what you do.

6:07

And then if you're not, you

6:09

stress out. So it's

6:12

just the thing. And then I feel like we

6:15

all kind of learned. Like my first

6:17

year you kind of just observe the veterans,

6:19

and you your second year you come in

6:22

and you're just kind of like different,

6:24

Like you have the you know, the ways of a top

6:26

cat, showing up early, bringing all the

6:28

things that you need, double checking,

6:31

triple checking the night before a game, things

6:33

like that. In your real life,

6:36

your non top cutting life. You teach

6:38

dance. I do UM. I teach kindergarten

6:40

through fifth well fourth grade dance at

6:43

a charter school, So I do that every

6:45

single day. UM and I have a dance

6:47

team at my school that recently

6:49

they performed at a Hornets game, So

6:52

that was really cool. They kind of

6:54

just stormed the court um

6:56

and then they were really cute and just did what they

6:58

wanted to do. But everybody loved it. So yeah,

7:01

I'm proud of them. How does your

7:04

job away from the stadium

7:06

and away from being a top cat, how does that help you

7:08

keep your skills sharp? Um? I feel

7:10

like because I teach

7:13

young students, it helps me kind of

7:15

stay aware of like the trends

7:18

that are going on and

7:20

how I can help them. And they actually

7:22

teach me a lot of things. Like I've learned

7:24

a lot of dance dances from

7:26

them, like Fortnite dances. Never knew

7:28

what that was until you know how to do the floss.

7:31

I'm an excellent philosopher. I would love

7:34

to see you will not be seeing. Yeah,

7:37

they taught me the foss or injustice, so

7:40

many different things. Like they teach

7:42

me way more than I feel like I teach them.

7:44

So like I come into practice and my guys,

7:46

look at this new dance that they taught me. So

7:50

you gotta stay in touch with pop culture. Amazing.

7:53

So what was the Super Bowl like for you? Oh?

7:56

It was honestly a blur. We

7:58

did a lot Um, as soon as we got

8:00

there, we had appearances. I remember it

8:03

seems like so long ago. And Um,

8:05

I didn't really eat a lot because we were just

8:07

busy, busy, busy. Um.

8:09

The one of the coolest things we did was we were

8:11

like on the NFL network and

8:14

um, they had like a pep rally that

8:16

was really fun and I feel like people really

8:19

liked our pep rally more than the Broncos.

8:21

But that's just me. Um.

8:23

And then the game was amazing,

8:27

sad at the end, but it was still fun. Um.

8:29

And then just like relaxing

8:32

afterwards with the team my

8:34

teammates was really cool. And

8:36

then it was over. It was like so quick, so

8:39

but it was fun. It sounds a lot like the broadcast

8:42

our broadcast trip a lot of great memories, but

8:44

the ending kind of stays with you. Top

8:46

Cat Emily's our guest on the podcast. We just

8:48

have a few more questions for you,

8:51

anilies. The military a

8:53

huge connection between the Panthers.

8:56

The players are our brand, our franchise

8:58

in the military. Does that extend to the Top Cat team

9:00

as well. Oh for sure. There's a lot of us that

9:02

have military connections and we

9:05

all really love to do those base visits

9:08

and um, they're just like really rewarding, especially

9:11

like when we went Overseas UM,

9:14

I don't know, three years ago. It

9:16

was just they expressed to us like

9:18

they don't usually have somebody cease

9:20

a familiar face like a

9:23

football team. They just see the same people every

9:25

single day. So seeing us was

9:27

kind of like really helpful

9:29

for them, and that made us feel really really

9:32

good. So, yeah,

9:34

before you came a lot

9:36

of outstanding young women. Tina

9:39

Becker worked here, Chelle Grant

9:41

worked here, and Shannon mcclady.

9:43

There have been others. To what degree, at

9:46

least when you're at work in the Top

9:48

Cat uniform, do you feel like you're not only representing

9:50

your current teammates and the Panthers,

9:52

but those that came before you. I

9:54

was lucky enough since I've been on the

9:57

team for so long to dance with

10:00

so many different Top Cats that I

10:02

feel like I have taken some I've

10:04

taken so many things from And

10:06

one thing that motivates me is

10:09

I don't know if you know Shandlay, but she was the Pro

10:11

Bowl cheerleader two years ago and

10:15

she's now our assistant, and like her

10:17

being in the room just kind of like

10:20

makes me want to be that be her

10:23

because she's great and she always

10:25

had so much energy and she just like really

10:27

motivates me. So that's

10:29

helpful. All right, last thing,

10:31

we'll let you go. We have

10:34

a societal fascination with beauty.

10:36

We didn't create you and I didn't create that culture,

10:39

but you exist in it. How How

10:41

do you how do you keep your

10:45

private life private? Keep keep

10:47

yourself on a professional

10:50

basis every time when when

10:52

you know that that people are

10:56

they can't not watch the Top Cats because

10:58

of how attractive and of variety of

11:00

ways you all are. Yeah, I think that

11:03

um nicole are coached as

11:05

a really great job teaching

11:08

us the ways to you know, keep things

11:10

private, keep things appropriate on our social

11:12

media, keeping you know, those

11:14

things separate because yes, there's

11:16

people everywhere that I can get

11:18

creepy, but she really

11:21

helps us to like stay grounded

11:23

and you know, you're representing not only

11:25

in this locker room, but when you walk outside people.

11:28

She loves to use an example like when we go to the grocery

11:30

store, people probably do know who

11:32

we are. Um so just like keeping

11:35

that balance. So she really helps us do that.

11:38

So you're on Twitter, I am it

11:40

appears that you've sent out over sixty five

11:42

tweets since two thousand six. I

11:45

used to get in Twitter jail when I

11:47

was in college because I used to

11:49

just tweet really

11:51

weird things, like I would be like sitting on my

11:53

desk or just say to pop

11:55

tart, and then I would get

11:57

in Twitter jail and I'll be like,

12:00

this is terrible. I'm not like

12:02

that anymore. I just like reading Twitter because

12:04

it's so funny to me. Can people

12:06

follow you? Yeah, but I don't think they retweet

12:08

me. I tweeted something this morning

12:10

about how I never get to watch the news

12:13

because I don't, and so I was watching the news

12:15

and there was so many I read that you said

12:17

bus drivers. Yes, there are so many um

12:21

stories about bus drivers like wrecking busses,

12:24

and I was like this is really bad. And

12:26

I was like, this is terrible. I never watched

12:28

the news. And then I watched um

12:31

Kelly and I don't

12:33

know who her co host is, but I watched

12:35

that show and I was like, this is interesting. So

12:38

I do tweet a lot of like random stuff.

12:41

How can people follow you on Twitter? At

12:44

Rihanna Lie if you want to follow me? If you wanna

12:47

if you want to laugh, all right, the

12:49

effrofacent personality and the

12:51

pure class of analyze. Coleman,

12:53

veteran top cat. Thanks for what you do, you're like,

12:55

thank you for having me. We'll

13:01

continue our historical perspective of

13:03

the first quarter century of Panther football next

13:05

time, right here on the podcast