Roller Derby Reconstruction

Chicago-Style Roller Derby hosted the Unholy Rollers of Wisconsin’s Madison Roller Derby in their debut game in Roselle, Illinois, on Feb. 25, 2023 (Photo by the author)

My local roller derby scene has a league again. Like everything else, the pandemic has had a profound impact on roller derby, which was not so long ago the world’s fastest growing sport, with leagues and teams under the umbrella of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) on every continent except Antarctica.

In our neck of the woods, the western collar counties of the greater Chicagoland metropolitan area…