Whack! Thump! Boom! How roller derby changed my life

June 2016. A non-descript sports hall in Zurich. The rattling sound of wheels on wooden parquet. An announcer hollering into the microphone. A group of fierce, determined women on roller skates wearing helmets, mouthguards and protective pads rounding the track with a sense of purpose. They hit one another until one of them fights through the defensive human wall. The crowd roars in approval. This was my first roller derby game. And I was hooked.

What at first looked like a chaotic whirlwind of skaters was, I soon learned, a highly structured and demanding team sport. Soon after, I decided to sign-up and enter the thrilling world of roller derby.

Roller derby is a full-contact sport played on roller skates with two teams competing on an oval track. Each team fields five players: one “jammer” (the only player who can score) and four “blockers” (who are tasked to stop the jammer). The jammer’s mission is to overlap the opposing blockers by fighting their way past them. And I do mean fight!

Blockers create a defensive human wall, which gets physical. Shoulder thrusts, hits to the ribs and massive body checks are common maneuvers that often send the players crashing to the floor. What looks reckless is in fact highly strategic. And there are illegal moves, too.

It’s tough and sometimes painful. Bruises and sprains are commonplace, fractures, too. Some of my teammates have had broken ankles, fingers and ribs. But unlike other sports – particularly men’s soccer – no one makes a fuss after they are knocked to the ground. You get up and play on.

Meet Harley Hot Roll (That’s me!)

As soon as I put on my helmet, mouthguard and lace up my beloved skates, I am no longer Tatjana Buser, the sometimes-introverted communications manager at Zurich Insurance Group. I become “Harley Hot Roll” – my playing name – the savage roller derby player. With your derby name you get to adapt a new persona. You can become so much more than you could ever be in your 9-to-5 life. You can be brave and confident.

Some of my teammates go by names like Purple Pain, Catzilla and Sin Sister. And then there’s Michi Impossible, who embodies the unstoppable spirit of roller derby. In the penultimate game during a recent tournament in France, Michi had a gaping wound on her chin and was bleeding all over the floor. Was this the end for one of our team’s star jammers? Of course not. Michi made a quick trip to the local doctor to get stitches and was back on for the last game, whizzing her way through the opposing blockers.

If you told me back in 2016 that I would become one of these crazy roller derby athletes – and even go on to coach – I would not have believed you. For one thing, I had to learn to skate on quad skates – yes, the old-school kind. Growing up in the 1990s, I had only used inline skates. But with a lot of practice (and more practice) and learning all the various skills the sport required, I was over the moon when I got accepted as a standing team member in 2017. Six years later, I train three times a week and take trains and buses all across Europe to play the sport I love.

Pioneers from the 1930s

Roller derby was born in the U.S. in the 1930s, a decade that was defined by the Great Depression. With so few jobs available, women were expected to focus on homemaking and motherhood. But not all women conformed to this ideal.

Women on roller skates crashing and slamming one another into outer track rails? It did not fit the stereotype of a 1930’s housewife. It was feminism on eight wheels.

It all started as a multi-day endurance race, which soon turned into a show-fight similar to professional wrestling. During the race, massive collisions and crashes would happen as skaters tried to lap those who were ahead of them. Fans loved it. Together with legendary sportswriter Damon Runyon, the creators of roller derby introduced the full-contact elements that still define the sport today.

Roller derby reached its peak in 1971, when 20,000 spectators crammed into Madison Square Garden to watch the spectacle. But just like that, its popularity quickly waned.

It was rediscovered in the late 1990s with new rules that put athleticism before showmanship. The curved, banked tracks and orchestrated violence of roller derby’s earlier iterations were gone, but the spirit of the sport remained.

The establishment of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association – the sport’s main governing body – in 2004, revived roller derby with more than 400 leagues across six continents.

Reading about the early trailblazers of roller derby makes me proud that I can continue what they started. Brave people – especially women who did not conform with gender stereotypes – opened many doors for women in sports and made roller derby what it is today.

All are welcome

Women of all ages, sizes and identities are drawn to the sport. Each roller derby player is different. But what they all have in common is the inner strength that redefines the meaning of athleticism and showcases what our bodies are capable of.

“At the beginning, I thought I was too small for roller derby,” says Mona Mortelle, one of Zurich City Roller Derby’s most experienced jammers. “But little by little, I found techniques and methods to be a successful athlete. Detaching the female body from classic gender roles has allowed me to discover my own strengths.”

While most other sports have a male-dominated history, roller derby is the exception. To this day, roller derby has one of sport’s most inclusive regulations. And that’s only because of the brave originators who broke stereotypes and gender roles early on.

In roller derby, the term “woman” does not refer to one’s assigned sex at birth. While our society is still predominantly divided into two genders, male and female, roller derby is not. It provides transgender women, intersex people and gender expansive individuals a space and a community where everyone is accepted for who they are.

To give an idea what the sport means to some in my circle, listen to my teammate, Sin Sister:

“A few years ago, I gave up my job in Zurich and moved to London to play with the best team in Europe – London Roller Derby. Being on track with the idols I so much adored and watched on TV meant everything to me. Learning from them and achieving common goals is something I will never forget.”

When I get asked, “does it hurt?” Hell, yeah it hurts! But it gives so much back. Roller derby is more than just a sport. It’s a community like I’ve never experienced before. It’s female empowerment and strength – both physical and mental. It’s feeling connected to my body. It’s teaching life lessons by being a good athlete and a loyal teammate – a skill that comes in handy in all kinds of situations, including my day job. We get to know one another under intense pressure. We fight together, we lose together, we win together. True empowerment!

Photo credits: Vanessa de Maddalena