ABSTRACT

This chapter explores the processes of becoming' derby and the ways the women came to understand the affects people felt in roller derby. Roller derby is a practice that allowed the women to embody an ethic of care to care for their selves, experiencing healing and transformation. Women embody the multiple relations to self in roller derby as they engage in sport as a pathway to alternative ways of living as gendered subjects. Yet Debbie's participation in roller derby was also at times destructive, despite the positive affects and changes it brought to her life. Kate's responses in some ways confirm this, particularly when she speaks of relating to the song Roller Derby Saved My Soul and to a book she read. Aggressive physical contact, such as that required in the game of roller derby, has given rise to certain affects that have somehow enabled the women to change: to feel loved and successful, and to experience healing and belonging.