Performance-driven
Quigley-Moenkhoff thriving as coach, NFL cheerleader
by AMBER GIBSON
Molly Quigley-Moenkhoff stopped competing in 2002, but she never hung up her skates. She still skates with partner Bert Cording, whom she competed with for five years. Te pair performed at the Nashville Figure Skating Club’s hol- iday show and they team-coach kids at the rink as well. “I’m probably not growing up as quickly as most people in the world,” Quigley-Moenkhoff said. “I am still doing what I did as a child. It helps me stay youthful.” Quigley-Moenkhoff coaches
more than 50 students and is also an NFL cheerleader for the Tennessee Titans. She cheered as a kid and tried out for the Titans in 2011. “Being an athlete, showgirl and
cheerleader are all very similar,” she said. “I’ve maintained my physique from being active in all of them.” It’s no surprise that Quig-
ley-Moenkhoff is still in prime shape, but she never would have guessed that she and Cording would still be so close more than a decade after their last competition together. “I love Bert,” Quigley-Moenk-
hoff said. “He’s like another brother for life.” Highlights of Quigley-Moenk-
hoff and Cording’s competitive ca- reer include placing eighth in pairs at the 2000 and 2002 U.S. Champi- onships. She competed in both pairs
and singles at the 2002 U.S. Cham- pionships. Internationally, the pair won a silver medal at the Golden Spin of Zagreb in 2000 and placed fourth at the Nebelhorn Trophy in 2001. After her competitive career ended, Quigley-Moenkhoff began show skating.
“I jumped on board the Royal
Caribbean ship,” she said. “I was a soloist and skating with other World and Olympic competitors.” Quigley-Moenkhoff performed
on cruise ships for three years, spending one hundred weeks at sea. “Tere’s nothing like it,” she
said. “It’s like college with the room- ing situation and would make a great reality show.” In 2010, she competed on
“Dancing on Ice” in England, be- coming more famous in London than she ever was in the United States. “You’re in the tabloids and ev-
eryone wants your autograph,” she said.
Quigley-Moenkhoff even has
her own character in the European “Dancing on Ice” Wii game. Now back at home in Nash-
ville, Quigley-Moenkhoff spends most days at the rink working along- side her mentor and former coach Laura Sanders, the skate school di- rector of the Nashville FSC. “She brings such positive ener- gy into the rink,” Sanders said of her
Molly Quigley and partner Bert Cording compete at the U.S. Championships.
Molly Quigley-Moenkhoff entertains the sold-out crowds at the Tennessee Titans games.
former student. “If I’m absent for an event, she’s the first one I pick to go in my place. She has a really good knack for what to say at an event to keep the skater calm.” Sanders has Quigley-Moenk- hoff do all the choreography for her students. “I consider her one of the best
choreographers in the country,” Sanders said. Between figure skating and cheerleading, Quigley-Moenk- hoff said skating was much more nerve-wracking than her NFL per- formances. “In cheerleading, it’s a big au- dience, maybe 90,000, and it’s still an adrenaline rush,” she said. “But you’re with your fellow friends and cheer- leaders and it’s a lot more comfortable.” Instead of
Quigley-Moenkhoff works with student Karlisle Sullivan.
56 MARCH 2013
competing against one another, the women work together to make the team the best it can be. “I don’t think they under-
stand how hard we work,” Quig- ley-Moenkhoff said. “A lot of people think we get paid really well, like the players, but that’s definitely not the case.”
Te glamour and fun, though, keep her coming back. “You’re definitely a bigger sex symbol as a cheerleader,” Quig- ley-Moenkhoff said. “It’s another realm and another following. Te average fan is a 55-year-old male as opposed to a 14-year-old female.” Unfortunately for those male
fans, Quigley-Moenkhoff is off the market. She has been married for five years, and her husband, Joel Moenkhoff, works in telecommu- nications sales and officiates college football. “He’s striving to be a referee in
the NFL,” his wife said. “How neat would that be? We’d both get to work for the NFL!”
PHOTO BY DAVE NELSON
PHOTO BY KRISTEN SULLIVANELLI
PHOTO BY RICHARD HARTMANCELLI
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