Skating Toward Justice: Reimagining Sport and Social Work through Roller Derby

Background and Purpose:
Sexual and gender diverse (SGD) people face increasing structural and legislative attacks globally, with sport emerging as a prominent battleground for these exclusions. This study explores how roller derby (RD)—a queer, feminist, DIY sport—functions as a community-rooted site of resistance, belonging, and mental health promotion for SGD athletes. In contrast to dominant narratives that frame trans and queer athletes as threats, this research highlights sport as a space of queer joy, collective resilience, and cultural transformation. Responding to urgent calls in social work to align research with policy and practice, the study documents how grassroots sporting ecosystems can disrupt exclusionary norms and offer models for justice-oriented community well-being. Notably, this study includes a large sample of trans and gender diverse (TGD) individuals currently participating in full-contact sport with cisgender women.

Methods:
This study employs an innovative, multimodal qualitative design grounded in constructivist grounded theory and social justice research principles. In addition to traditional qualitative methods, the study incorporated visual and participatory strategies, such as participant-generated photo and video elicitation, to capture the embodied and affective dimensions of experience. Data were collected through a pre-screening survey and semi-structured interviews with 31 SGD-identifying roller derby athletes across North America and Europe, including a focused sub-sample from culturally specific No Borders Roller Derby teams. While the broader sample includes diverse SGD identities, a significant number of participants identified TGD. Rigorous, collaborative, multimodal coding, visualization, and constant comparative analysis were used to interpret the layered emotional, cultural, and political meanings of roller derby participation.

Results:
Findings are organized across four interconnected themes: Resistance, Harnessing, Embodying and Contributing, and Thriving. Participants described RD as a space where they resist gendered and racialized exclusion, harness queer community and cultural identity, contribute to movement-building and advocacy, and experience thriving through athleticism and queer/trans joy. The emergence of No Borders Roller Derby (a coalition of culturally specific diaspora teams) further illustrates how BIPOC and TGD athletes are not only seeking access to sport but actively reshaping it as a space of belonging and liberation. The study emphasizes the mental health benefits of embodied participation in affirming spaces and the power of queer joy to counter systemic oppression.

Conclusions and Implications:
This research offers a justice-oriented framework for understanding sport as a site of social work intervention, policy influence, and cultural transformation. It challenges deficit-based models that center SGD victimization and instead highlights community-created ecosystems of healing and resistance. In the face of growing anti-trans and anti-SGD legislation, the findings offer timely insights into how athlete-led spaces like roller derby can model inclusive, affirming, and activist sport environments. The study has direct implications for social work practice, mental health policy, and equity-centered sport governance, demonstrating how community-rooted approaches can advance social justice and collective well-being.