Two Jacksonville Natives to Head to Super Bowl 50 with the Panthers TopCats Dance Team

By Jacqueline Matter
WNCT.com

Two Jacksonville natives are headed to the Super Bowl, but they’ll be cheering on the Panthers from the sidelines.
WNCT’s Jacqueline Matter spoke to their mothers on the exciting journey.

Friends since elementary school, Aliscia Taplin and Annalise Coleman are both first-year dancers for the Carolina Panthers Cheerleading Team, the TopCats.

While the girls didn’t always desire to be NFL cheerleaders, they both had a gift from a very young age.

“When I saw her amongst the other 5-year-olds and 6-year-olds, her hands were straight out, her legs were high, and I thought wow she’s a natural,” said Valerie Taplin of her daughter Aliscia.

“Annalise started dancing since she was about four years old, her preschool teacher told me she was gifted in rhythm,” said Vanessa Coleman, Annalise’s mother.

The goal of being a TopCat has been a passion of Annalise’s for years.

“She decided when she was 17, we went to the Panther’s game, and she said mom I’m going to dance with the cheerleaders, and she watched them the whole time and so when she turned 21 she tried out.”

But making the team wasn’t easy. Annalise and Aliscia competed among 160 other girls vying for a spot on the TopCats squad.

“Every day for about a month, ‘mom I’m still in, I’m still in’, so it was really a nerve-wrecking thing for us,” said Vanessa Coleman.

“She’d call me and tell me ‘oh I think I did okay, I think I did alright’ which was good to hear but I said don’t get excited don’t get nervous for her just let everything be calm,” said Valerie Taplin.

After countless hours of training and chasing a lifelong dream, the dancing duo made the 28 member squad.

Now, both girls will soon have a Super Bowl experience.

“To dance, just to dance and dance for the Panthers, but God’s plan was you can dance for the Panthers but you’re going to the Super Bowl with that,” said Valerie Taplin about their excitement.

Each year the girls must re-try out for the TopCats dance squad, but both girls say they have every intention of returning to the sidelines next year to cheer on the Panthers.

While the Panthers have already landed in Santa Clara for Super Bowl 50, the TopCats Cheerleaders will be headed to California on Friday.