 I grew up as a kid being super not athletic at all. I was not into sports. I really resented authority and I hated it when people told me what to do. Any kind of sport that had a captain or coach was pretty much out for me as a kid because I was just like, no, I'm just going to sit here and read a book and you can't make me do anything else. I was a super nerd. And then when I went to college, club sports became available to me. So I started playing Ultimate Frisbee, which was a fantastic sport, but after a while and as time went on, it became harder and harder for me to play that sport because I'm trans and specifically I'm non-binary. I'm not a man or a woman. And it's not really possible to not have a gender in most team sports. I moved to Western Mass and heard that Pioneer Valley roller derby had started an all slash no gender roller derby team named United Front. And I was like, sign me up. Once I was 19 or 20, I was kind of aware that roller derby was a thing that was available to do in the area because I had seen flyers. And at that time, I needed a new group of friends. I was a student, but I had just moved off campus. I had kind of lost touch with some of the friends that I had. And I was realizing that I needed a form of exercise, but I didn't really know what it should be. So I decided to try it out. I had never worn roller skates before the night that I came to recruitment. I had never done it. And that was not at all a setback because half the people there had never done it before. I recently moved to Northampton and I was didn't know much about Western Mass in the valley. And I was like, I should go out to events and see cool local stuff. I went to about and I was like, oh my God, this is so amazing. This is so much fun. And I started talking to the skaters and they were like, well, you know, if you're really interested in this, you can always join. And I was just kind of like, what? So roller derby is the best sport ever. So this basically roller derby is like Red Rover, but on skates. It's great. There's a lot more rules involved, but it's great. There's one person on each team whose job it is to score the points at any given time. And that person wears a special hat on top of their helmet and has a star on it. And then each team has another set of skaters called blockers. And their goal is to stop the opposing jammer and also to help their jammer get around the track. And points are scored based off of how many opposing skaters you pass. All players are playing offense and defense at the same time. And instead of a ball to score points, we use our bodies. It's actually beneficial to have people of many different body types, many different shapes and sizes and skills. The thing that I love about roller derby is that there is a place for everybody in this sport. No matter who you are, what kind of body you have, what your skill level is. So it's all about finding that happy place. Just the more I thought about it, I thought this would be something that's really, really good for me. And at the time, I was kind of struggling with a lot of trauma in response to being a survivor of sexual assault and was always kind of talking with my therapist of like I don't have, I don't feel like I have any agency over my own body. And I was like, Derby is something that I can do that will give me that feeling. And it will also be this big, tough challenge for me. And you know, it'll be an opportunity to prove something to myself that like I can do this and you know, I can do something that makes me feel good in my body and makes me feel like I have control over it. The times that I feel proudest are the times when I master a new skill. I do something I've never done before that like, surveys say brain says you shouldn't be able to do that. So the first time I ever mastered a 180 degree turn, which is a super essential skill in roller derby. I was like, yes, this is everything. It makes you feel instantly so badass. And so like, yes, I'm totally going to be able to play this sport. I did find exactly what I was looking for. I made so many new friends in that community. And I feel like I am moving my body in a way that makes me feel healthier and happier. I have found a community of people that I didn't know about united by a thing that most people don't realize exists. As adults, we don't get a chance to be a part of a team often enough. Kids are usually encouraged to try out doing sports, but older people don't often get the chance to be on a team part of like a real strong group. Pioneer Valley roller derby, it's not just a group of people that come together and you know, play a sport. It's really a community. And when you join, you're not only joining for the sport itself, but you make really strong connections with other people in the league. And you know, those people very quickly become your friends. And you know, they become your allies. And it's just been a really great experience for that reason and having so much more than people who are just teammates. I'm all about creating spaces like Pioneer Valley roller derby that are explicitly trans affirming that are explicitly a place for people who are queer gay men, you know, trans fabulous folks. That's that's the kind of sport that I need to play in because that's who I am and that's who my community is. So for me, that's the thing that roller derby that is best about roller derby is that it is a culture and it creates a community where we have each other's back, where we care more about collaboration and community than we do about winning. And we're all about supporting each other and having fun. So for me, that's why people should play roller derby and support roller derby is because it's a completely different kind of sport and a different kind of community. And it's the best kind that I can imagine.