Figure Skating Coach Rory Flack Looks to 'Bring the Urban Streets onto the Ice' in New Reality Series (Exclusive)

Flack, the first African American woman to win the US Open Professional Figure Skating Championships, leads WE tv's 'Breaking the Ice'

Rory Flack doesn't suffer fools. Nor should she.

The first African American woman to win the US Open Professional Figure Skating Championships now coaches the first wholly diverse competitive synchronized ice skating team, and the skates, er stakes, couldn't be higher. Or more public.

Flack's journey with the troupe of 10 middle and high school-aged skaters is the subject of WE tv's latest reality series, Breaking the Ice, premiering tonight.

Flack, 54, held nationwide tryouts to bring together the Washington, D.C.-area group of figure skaters known as Team DMV (which stands for Divine Motivational Visionaries). And while she's quick to laugh in conversation, she's serious about the hard work the young ladies must put in in order to achieve their goal of making it to the Ice Sports Industry’s (ISI) national championship.

In PEOPLE's exclusive sneak peek, viewers will see the skaters struggling to get in sync with one another, and team captain Nia, 12, gives her coach a little sass. Flack won't stand for that.

"It's work, work, work, and the fun is in a clean program at the end," Flack tells PEOPLE. "The fun is in learning and getting better; it's not in falling in a weird way."

Related: Team USA Speed Skater Erin Jackson Wins Gold, Becomes First Black Woman to Win Solo Medal in Olympic Event

While the skaters may have a missed connection earlier in the clip, finding a connection with one another was almost instantaneous.

"The quickest bonding was the color of their skin," says Flack. "When they all got there, they were so excited to meet these other girls that they didn't even know. Some were from Maryland, some were from Virginia, some were from D.C."

Related: Two-Time Olympian Maame Biney on Being an Example in a 'Sport That Isn't Predominantly Black'

Flack recognized just how important those relationships were and fostered it before they ever stepped foot on the ice together: "The first month of practice was off-ice, but they really had to bond, and you can't bond when you're worrying about your skill. Because of that, there was no competition [among them] on a skill level when we started."

The group had plenty else in common as well, from injuries and fear of falling, to navigating the high cost of the sport (membership in Team DMV was $1,850 per skater for the season, not to mention the costs for travel and accommodations during competitions) to facing prejudice even as they purchased equipment.

In the first episode, a skater named Peggy is struggling with her skates.

"I put Peggy's skates on three months before that and was like, 'I don't know how you skate in these,'" says Flack. "Our experience is that every time we find a Black skater, they're in Jacksons [a company known for making skates ideal for beginning skaters, but often not for advanced levels of figure skating]. They sell us Jacksons because it's 'Jackson.'"

Flack is determined to change this and keep her students in the "right quality" skates.

"I have a program called Black Ice Matters, and every two or three months we do a fundraiser with Double Good Popcorn, and half of that money goes into these skaters," she says. "I really want to make sure that the parents can be comfortable so the kids can grow."

Related: U.S. Figure Skating 'Frustrated' by Lack of Final Decision in Team Event, Calls for Fair Ruling

The lessons skating can teach, says Flack, have ripple effects on life into adulthood.

"They're learning a can-do attitude," she says. "I'm trying to teach them to approach fear in a different way and change that mindset from, 'I don't know if I can do this,' to, 'I can't wait to see what progress this brings me' and being excited for that moment."

As for her new foray into reality TV, Flack is facing fame with her eyes wide open. After all, her aunt is legendary singer Roberta Flack.

"I always keep in my mind the advice that she gave me when I was 17 years old: 'Don't let anything stop you.' She's like, 'There's so many things that can get in the way, and you have to push those things aside. You can't let them stop your dream because no matter what your dream is there for a reason.'"

Flack's past success as a professional skater, as a coach and now Breaking the Ice is just the beginning of those dreams. "I have a lot in store," she says. "With The Color of Ice Productions and Black Ice Matters, we really want to bring the urban streets onto the ice. I want to make sure everybody joins us."

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Breaking the Ice premieres Thursday, July 6, at 9 p.m. ET on WE tv.

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