BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. – When Avery Weishaus is skating she often thinks of her uncle Charlie.
Weishaus, 12, is both an ice dancer and a hockey player, just like her uncle Charlie was at her age. She trains for both at the Detroit Skating Club in Bloomfield Hills.
"I like them both the same but I feel like hockey kind of helps ice dance because it can make you have a lot more power," Weishaus said.
Her uncle Charlie wanted to be the first athlete to go to the Olympics for both hockey and figure skating. He had to choose, but Weishaus hasn't had to yet.
Uncle Charlie is none other than Charlie White, an ice dancer and part of the first American ice dance team to win gold at a Winter Olympics. He and his partner Meryl Davis won at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. They earned silver at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada. Their storied career is very inspiring to many young skaters with six U.S. Championship titles, two world titles and three Olympic medals.
Weishaus tells Meryl Davis, who is working with Local 4 during the Olympics that she is inspired by her uncle's work ethic.
"One of the things that I look up to for my uncle Charlie is hardworking because it kind of translates into everything like school, skating especially, hockey, everything really," Weishaus said.
White thinks that's very special that his niece Avery feels that way.
"When I talk to her about skating or school or hockey very rarely am I asking if she won her last competition, if she got an a but if she is working hard and to me that's the most important thing. If you work hard at something, it gives you the opportunity to excel and when you excel is when you have fun," White said.
The two are very close, even sharing the same October birthday; however, there is one trait they do not have in common. Weishaus says she is superstitious but her uncle is not.
Weishaus has fond memories with her uncle, including sharing the same birthday cake at her grandfather's home, and White making time to come see her skate or play hockey despite his busy travel schedule as a professional ice dancer with Davis.
"For my fifth birthday party, I had a lot of my friends and he came and he lifted me up and spun me around," Weishaus said. "One time he came over to my house and in my basement he taught me how to lift a puck and make a good shot."
White is humble about the influence he has had on his niece.
"I'd like to think that I kind of gave her a little push towards something she actually ended up really falling in love with, so if I had an impact I hope that's what it is," White said.