Women and Roller Derby

Internationally, roller derby is one of the fastest growing women’s sports. In 2006, Roller Derby Worldwide had 160 leagues registered. Today, 1,234 leagues are registered. The newest version of roller derby is played on a flat oval track with two teams vying for points. Each team is composed of four blockers and one jammer. Points are earned when the jammer, passes each opposing player. Blockers either block opposing jammers or assist their own jammer through what is called a pack. This study had a twofold emphasis: one, to investigate women’s flat track roller derby as a serious leisure activity and the impact participation is having on its members; and two, to investigate the effect participation in roller derby has on body image. Every league worldwide was e-mailed a survey, respondents self-selected and 2,417 fully completed surveys were submitted. For this research, we are focusing on respondents from the United States (n=1,597). A typical respondent was Caucasian, 20 to 40 years of age, heterosexual, in a married/domestic partnership, and has a post-secondary degree. The great majority of respondents (97.1 percent) indicated that roller derby is their most important leisure activity or one of their more important leisure activities. The majority (97 percent) also indicated that roller derby had a positive effect on their body image