Oakland's Mark Sadusky wants to see more people that look like him competing at a high level.
One of the newest members of Team USA figure skating, Sadusky struggled with being different in the sport. But, he's embracing that journey on and off the ice.
NBC Bay Area caught up with the Team USA pairs figure skater practicing on his home ice rink, Oakland Ice Center.
The 27-year-old moved to Colorado four years ago to train. This is Sadusky's first season on Team USA.
He actually didn't start skating until he was a teenager.
"One day I saw Disney on Ice and I was like, 'I want to try ice skating,'" he said.
At the age of four, Sadusky was adopted by his white father, Joe. Joe adopted Mark and his older brother when they were in foster care in the Central Valley.
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"When I first was adopted, I was pretty quiet," Mark said. "I was very timid around my father just because it was me getting to know someone new. I was just this kid that had loads of energy. There's not a lot of Black figure skaters. So growing up in such a predominantly African-American environment and where I was, it was a little bit more different and a little bit harder."
Teenage Mark said being different and skating led to self-doubt and hurtful comments from others.
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"Kids were like, 'Oh, my gosh, you're Black and you're not playing football, you're not playing basketball. You must be gay. You like wearing these glittery costumes,'" Mark said.
Mark said he watched a lot of tennis as a kid, especially when it came to the Williams sisters, Serena and Venus. It was something Venus said that he said changed his perspective on those hurtful comments.
"It was something along the lines of anyone in this room right now can't do what I can do, so why would I care about their opinion?" Mark said. "When I heard that quote, I was kind of like, well, that's the same thing about me. I have all these people saying all these negative things about me, but if I get on that ice and go do a double axel, how many people can say they can do what I do?"
Today, Mark is competing on a national and international level with partner Nica Digerness. His full-time day job is coaching young skaters. Mark is also an ambassador for the nonprofit Diversify Ice Foundation.
"Our goal eventually is to have more kids of color be able to skate," Mark said. "I think it's really important for the community to see African-Americans and people of color in our sport so that they feel like they can do it as well."
With the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan less than a year away, Mark is taking this journey all in.
"If we were to make it, it would be the greatest honor to be able to attend, but also just realizing that my long dream of this kid that started at Oakland Ice Center when he was 13 finally made it all this way, it would just really complete my whole entire journey," he said.
