History-making HBCU gymnastics team to star in documentary

The Fisk University women’s gymnastics team, which made history this year by becoming the first-ever HBCU gymnastics program to participate in NCAA competition, is set to be the subject of a new documentary series, according to Deadline.

The series, called “Flipped,” will be directed by Deborah Riley Draper and produced by wiip.

It will follow the inaugural season of a team made up of transfers who left high-profile programs to compete for the Nashville-based HBCU. The team’s coach, Corrinne Tarver, made history in 1989 for becoming the first Black gymnast to win an all-around NCAA championship while competing for the Georgia Bulldogs.

“This is the most aspirational coming-of-age sports story of the year. We have not seen this before and it’s happening in real time,” Riley Draper said in a statement to Deadline. “Watching this unfold in gymnastics will be a blueprint and a lesson for equity and access.”

The team first began a little over a year ago, but its inaugural competition was the Super 16 Invitation in Las Vegas, Nevada in mid-January. 

The team placed fourth, with freshman Morgan Price earning an impressive score on vault of 9.9.