Figure Skater Is Also Panthers TopCat
By Suzette Rhee
FoxCharlotte.com
It’s a new and exciting season for the Carolina Panthers and its cheerleaders, the TopCats. The women come from all walks of life, there are teachers, business professionals, college students and even moms. But for the first time ever, a professional figure skaters is among its ranks.
In her game day uniform Samantha Vonsiatsky looks very much at home here on the field. “It’s a big challenge but it’s been a lot of fun and a new challenge,” says Vonsiatsky. She is one of 24 women who call themselves a TopCat.
But for the past nine years, Vonsiatsky has been traveling the world as the lead female soloist in ice shows. “I competed until I was 18 years old then I turned professional and traveled the world, I’ve loved skating since the first time I put on those rental skates at our home rink, it’s taken me to places I could not have imagined, it is absolutely my passion,” says Vonsiatsky.
She is also a figure skating coach, and teaches a wide range of students at the Pineville Ice House rink.
While most of our heads would be spinning with all this, not for Vonsiatsky. She seems to be able to transfer years of performance on ice straight to the TopCats and team choreographer Richelle Grant agrees, “she is great and a pleasure to have in the locker room she truly is and she came in here ready with that athlete mentality so it was easy for her to pick up.”
The TopCats perform 15-20 routines in a game says team manager Tina Becker. Grant likes to mix it up so the girls are always learning a new routine.
Vonsiatsky says the work of a TopCat is tough and the audience of more than 73 thousand people daunting, but this figure skater says she is up for the challenge.
