April 28 (UPI) -- Rory Flack is trying to make history, again. The first African American woman to win the U.S. Open Professional Figure Skating Championships is coaching Team DMV, the first diverse competitive synchronized ice skating to make it to the Ice Sports Industry national championship.
Ten middle and high school girls are part of Team DMV out of Washington, D.C., who must endure rigorous training, the inherent racism in the sport of figure skating, and the expectations of their parents to compete successfully.
But if anyone can help them succeed, it's Flack, who has beat the odds herself on the way to a professional skating career. She, along with French figure skater Surya Bonaly is credited with being among the first to do a backflip on ice, which is banned in the sport since before Bonaly first did it in the Olympics in 1998.
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