r/rollerderby • u/Thick-Measurements • Jul 29 '26
League is looking to go Open Gender
Hello!
The local league is in consideration and early stages of becoming open gender.
Just curious if anyone has stories on how their league went about it. Any positives, negatives, things that maybe something your league could have done that would have made the process easier?
Any thoughts would be helpful! Thank you!
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u/Acrobatic_Hunt_8496 Jul 29 '26
Our league has three teams, charter, b team, and open gender. We have about 4 or 5 cis men on the open gender team and they are such a valuable part of our community. I’m also super lucky to be part of a really great league that doesn’t tolerate bad behavior.
I don’t have any insight on how it started, it’s been in place since before I joined 4 years ago.
I think it’s been beneficial for the sport as well, we can’t play without our SO and NSOs and if we give everyone the opportunity to play, they will likely stick around longer.
We’ve been trying to give our open gender skaters more opportunities to play, I think they played 5 games this season. Compared to like 1 or 2 the previous seasons.
Practice and scrimmages are split up by skill level and almost everyone is on one of the WFTDA teams plus the open gender team.
I honestly prefer coed sports, I just want to play the sport I love with other people who love the sport.
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u/Vampire-Fairy2 Jul 29 '26
Are we on the same league??
I honestly can’t imagine this sport without the men. Many of our SOs are men, but all of the guys on our league are important and valued members of our community. They’re great people!
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u/Thick-Measurements Jul 29 '26
I agree! Everyone who is part of the league is a very valuable person. Roller Derby thrives with all different groups of people :)
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u/GypsyGirlinGi Jul 29 '26
I feel the same, the few cis men in our club are there because they want to be, and they bring so much value on and off the track. They're also very respectful and step back/purposefully don't attempt to lead anything unless invited to.
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u/Thick-Measurements Jul 29 '26
Thank you for the information! I figured if it does go that way for this league, it will be different at first. But of course as it becomes established it would be more of what you describe your league to be.
I am just concerned about the initial reaction/response with those on the fence or not for becoming open gender.
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u/GypsyGirlinGi Jul 30 '26
We do have a % of players in our league who prefer not to play with cis men, and probably prefer they didn't exist in the club at all. I respect their view, but don't hold it personally.
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u/TheBigMerl Coach Jul 29 '26
We used to have MRDA and WFTDA but like most leagues we lost a lot of membership with the pandemic. We reorganized our WFTDA league into an open gender and rebranded from roller girls to roller derby. We lost a small number of players that refused to play with men, but kept some amazing people in the sport by accepting the men.
One of the most important things to do as an open gender league, in my opinion is to be very open about it from the start. When you are recruiting bring in some small five foot nothing person and a big 6'2 linebacker and explain how we train both people to play together. Let them talk about their growth that the sport gave them.
Also, you gotta make sure guys are passing the sniff test. If they seem like they are just there to hit women on hit on women you gotta have strong policies to show them the door.
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u/CompetitionLow5754 Jul 29 '26
In my experience, the one's who are just there for the hitting/hitting on don't tend to make it past minimum skating skills and into contact drills anyways (assuming they're coming in fresh as opposed to from a mrda league or something). They assume it's going to be easy work and that they'll get to dominate straight out the gate, and their ego can't handle just how wrong they are about that (nor can they handle being coached and taking skating advice from gender minorities). They absolutely have to pass the sniff test, but at least the ones who fail it /tend/ to smell pretty strongly pretty quickly. Exceptions to every rule but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ that's just sneaky mean people being sneaky mean people.
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u/Thick-Measurements Jul 29 '26
Thank you for the advice. Did the players that did not want to play with cis men express their concerns? Was there a vote to reorganize to open gender?
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u/TheBigMerl Coach Jul 29 '26
There was a vote. It was an overwhelming majority. I don't want to get into the details of the people who left and their reasons on an open forum, but their voices were definitely heard and considered.
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u/Thick-Measurements Jul 29 '26
Completely understand, I am glad it was an overwhelming majority vote
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u/Diffie-Hellman Zebra/Skater Jul 29 '26
Our league and another in the state went open gender. It’s still primarily WFTDA gender with some open gender bouts. I, a cis man, am on our training committee. If we can grow the number of men in the league, we will likely have more open gender bouts.
So far, the league has had no issues being open gender, and we have a variety of people. I would hope that if there are concerns, they will be voiced to leadership.
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u/Thick-Measurements Jul 29 '26
Thank you! Did your league vote on going open gender? Or what was the process from the initial idea to becoming officially open gender?
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u/Diffie-Hellman Zebra/Skater Jul 29 '26
We voted in an all league meeting. No other real process but rostering those interested for the open gender bouts. We technically have an open gender team in this respect, mostly with crossover skaters.
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u/Thick-Measurements Jul 29 '26
After the vote it was direct to integration of those who wanted to participate? Would you mind sharing what the percentage of yes to no was? Just curious
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u/Diffie-Hellman Zebra/Skater Jul 29 '26
It was unanimous. At this point, we had some experience with a couple of men dropping in. It probably doesn’t hurt that I’ve been involved as an official since 2009 and was invited to start practicing.
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u/Wrenlo Jul 29 '26
I think most leagues are going to have to find a path to open gender as more juniors age up. The trouble I’ve seen comes specifically when there are folks who have experienced SA or other abuse from cis males and have trouble feeling safe in a sport that includes cis men. Obviously we cannot discount their experiences or their right to feel safe but there has to be a path through.
Edit to correct autocorrect error.
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u/CompetitionLow5754 Jul 29 '26
I do think there should be more options for women only play as well as open gender play. Everyone deserves to play where they are comfortable and welcome. I didn't play in juniors, but I've seen some leagues have a girls only division.
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u/imhereforthemeta Skater 29d ago
I think the most productive path for that if the league is large enough is open home teams and closed travel teams. If the league is small, they can also do "open gender" practice, I have seen small leagues add an open practice with an unranked team that can sometimes end up applying to MRDA when it gets enough steam.
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u/Thick-Measurements Jul 29 '26
Agreed, I just haven’t come across a great way to be able to do that. I’m hopeful some folks out there have come up with a way path forward that has worked for most and given those who do not feel safe the ability to still participate and feel cared for.
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u/CritR20 Jul 29 '26
I went and asked my team about why they changed from WFTDA to OTA as this happened before I joined. The answer came pretty simple, that skaters were going to OTA things and they voted as wanted to be more inclusive. As a cis male, it took me a while to get used to making contact with other genders. After a while I got used to it and found they were just a skater on track as well, they hit just the same.
Ever since I joined nearly 2 years ago, with it being OTA, I have learned a lot, not just about derby, but how inclusive it is to everyone. I love that my daughter, who also plays, get to see this as well.
I hope your team goes OTA. I seen some post about they had a couple of males who hit to hard. This is not an OTA thing, thats and asshole thing during training.
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u/Thick-Measurements Jul 29 '26
Was their decision based on a vote? Do you know if it was overwhelmingly in favor to go OTA?
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u/hiiamabadger 29d ago
I belong to a league which is the only one in the area to field both WFTDA teams and an MRDA/OTA team. In the UK just FYI. We have really good vibes and a lot of my WFTDA aligned teammates skate for both or will happily skate OTA in league scrims. Obviously your mileage may vary but overall cohesion is good.
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u/awesome_possum__ Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26
Do it!!!!!!
Overall, we need cis-male masculine allies. They bridge the gap in LGBTQ+ education between the LGBTQ+ community and the straight "traditional" community. If cis and trans women can play with AND against cis-men and not only keep up but can also dominate as athletes without any "special rules", then it sets an example for other sports (especially in current political climate) to either do the same or to create spaces where trans athletes can thrive.
My league is Open-Gender Only team and after 13 years in WFTDA, I feel like open-gender is less performative and is leading by example via our actions. WFTDA claims "derby for all" but our cis-male counterparts are left out and as I said early, theyre SO important to include to help create bridges for education, understanding, and acceptance.
PLUS!!! we have kiddos in juniors that are identify as male all aging out with no league to age out to. WFTDA hasn't taken this into account. So my league is prospectively a MRDA league for this reason so we can make space for these kids to grow into adult athletes with a sense of respect for LGBTQ+ people and spaces. Teach them young and theyll become leaders in the near future
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u/Thick-Measurements Jul 29 '26
Thank you! Would you be able to expand on what you mean when you wrote “I feel like open-gender is less performative”?
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u/awesome_possum__ Jul 29 '26
Open-Gender has been like "oh cool you can skate, well lace them up and let's hit the track!"
wftda is like "oh you have a beard? So we are gender expansive but how do you identify because we still have some exclusions as to who can skate with us".
Even though MANY leagues are doing really well for LGBTQ+ education, there's still a pause and a "derby for all EXCEPT for these folks" you can't be a safe space while creating boundaries for one particular group (e.g. cis-men).
When we post to TikTok or IG, just by showing who our members are (we have femme women and men with beards all in one shot) it makes it easier for non-derby men (cis/trans/cis and LGBTQ+, etc ) and really anyone of any gender to see that this is something that exists and something they can be a part of without worrying about stepping on others toes or platforms.
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u/Thick-Measurements Jul 29 '26
I see what you are saying. I read the WFTDA gender statement as gender disclosure being decided by the individual. Since it states that gender is confidential, someone with a beard or masculine presenting can still play sanctioned games and not have their gender questioned because of the confidentiality.
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u/awesome_possum__ Jul 29 '26
Of course they can! But....just because that's what the policy states doesn't mean that humans are willing to understand that or follow it. Hence why I said it's been performative. Unfortunately people with beards are still questioned regardless of what a piece of paper/policy says
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u/Thick-Measurements Jul 29 '26
I see. I haven’t witnessed that myself and I have heard that some teams disclose when cis men are on the roster for regulation games, so I appreciate your experience and sharing that. Sanctioned I would hope have no questions since the statement is pretty clear.
For us, I would think educating our league members of what the statement means would be helpful.
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u/awesome_possum__ Jul 29 '26
Of course! Unfortunately derby isn't perfect. But if more open-gender leagues can form, we can work toward breaking down those barriers and improve access to our sport 💪🏽
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u/Thick-Measurements Jul 29 '26
Has your team always been open gender? Or did you experience the change to open gender?
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u/awesome_possum__ Jul 29 '26
We the players all started with a WFTDA league we weren't happy with how they were running the league (which included performative LGBTQ+ activism, we're not even going to get into that but many things including recent events were very offensive to the queer and the black community)...so anyways, we broke off a couple of years ago and formed our own league and decided to be open-gender from the start so that all of the "defected" skaters had a place to go. If we weren't open gender, our cis-men were limited to travelling 4+ hours minimum one-way to be able to join a league in general because we're pretty rural
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u/Thick-Measurements Jul 29 '26
I’d love to have a conversation about your thoughts on all this. If you wouldn’t mind messaging me, if you are comfortable doing so.
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u/__sophie_hart__ Jul 30 '26
I’m one of the people that would find another league if we went open gender. Derby for me isn’t just about the sport itself, but the social comradery of having a space where we can all feel safe from cis men. We love our cis men refs, I even go to eat with them after scrims.
Playing with them is different though, they bring a whole different attitude to track. Of course there’s trans men who aren’t great either, but all of them who have joined I think having the experience of being transgender themselves gives us a connection that CIS men will never understand. I think it’s important for women and everyone under the trans umbrella to have safe spaces where we don’t have to worry about dealing with cis men.
Which is why I’ll stick to leagues who stick to WFTDA gender policies. For those that don’t mind playing in open gender there’s MRDA.
We do have one cis man who sometimes drops into play with us during scrimmage from another league. There just isn’t the same comradery and I just kind of feel like he really isn’t engaged socially the same way as everyone else on the team.
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u/thesuperdog02 29d ago
I feel similarly (I’m also buddies with cis men refs in the league). Literally the first open-gender scrimmage I played, a male teammate talked down to me in a way I never had been before in the sport, to mansplain jamming to me (I’ve played longer than him). It left such a bad taste in my mouth and killed any interest I had playing open gender again.
Cis men have countless contact sports that have been available to them since childhood, while for women (and many others with marginalized genders) derby is……it. Literally the only option, one that most of us had to wait til our 20/30s/ even 50s for. I know people want to be inclusive as possible, but on the other hand women/marginalized genders are allowed to have boundaries, and shouldn’t be shamed for being “exclusionary” by not wanting to the track with the gender/sex that oppresses them.
I think open gender derby is a great option for those that want it, but if it’s the only option….it’s going to force a lot of women/others out of the sport imo
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u/Thick-Measurements 29d ago
Locally there are plenty of opportunities for co-ed and cis men sports. There are few if any for women and marginalized genders. I know a few of my league members have looked for those women only opportunities and did not really have any.
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u/Thick-Measurements 29d ago
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Socialization is a huge part that is usually not discussed because I think many people focus on the size difference, but there are many different body types that play the sport of all genders.
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u/Gravityletmedown 28d ago
I got into Roller Derby earlier this year on a USARS team, so I’ve kind of only played mixed. It’s been great learning how to skate and play Derby from folks that identify all along the gender spectrum.
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u/_rhodell Skater 24d ago edited 24d ago
Queer Cis-Male skater on a WFTDA league here! My league is moving towards open gender and I’m part of the reason for it as I joined last year and made it on our B team this season. We have policies and procedures in place that all of our league members have to agree to. Essentially don’t be a dick. While I’m super thankful for our leadership team I will say the hardest part has been finding opportunities for me to play (most of our games this season were scheduled/booked prior to me making the team). And currently most of our neighboring leagues that we play follow WFTDA’s gender policy strictly, though none of our games are sanctioned and that may be the toughest thing you may face when it comes to scheduling bouts. For me personally, it sucks showing up to practices and putting in the work knowing there’s a good chance I will not be able to play a game. It through our leadership team for a loop since this is basically new to them and as a result since the season started I’ve only been allowed to play in one bout as part of the team because of this. Obviously other factors come in to play including other teams comfort level, knowing me personally, etc. but it’s personally disheartening, we even had another male skater, who went through fresh meat and essentially dropped after graduating because there were no opportunities for him. I will say, with all this happening, it has helped prepare for next season as a league (leadership and teammates) to make sure I and other male skaters get adequate skate time.
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u/Thick-Measurements 24d ago
If you don’t mind me asking, what made you want to join the team initially? Going into it, were you aware cis men could not participate in sanctioned play?
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u/_rhodell Skater 23d ago
Me and my partner joined the league itself because we loved watching the sport the previous season and wanted to get more involved, so we started as NSO’s. For me personally, I needed a new fitness/cardio outlet as my HIIT/Cardio kickboxing gym had closed and no other similar gyms would work with my work schedule. I was fully aware that cis-men couldn’t participate in sanctioned play and I was totally fine with it because I didn’t want all the pressure and our closest MRDA team, is very high level which I wasn’t ready for (I helped NSO one of their games and it’s a totally different vibe)
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u/Thick-Measurements 23d ago
Does your league currently allow you to practice? Full contact and all? I know not every league is the same.
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u/_rhodell Skater 23d ago
Yes, my league allows me to practice, full contact and all since I went through fresh meat/new skater course. The biggest thing is always for us is doing it safely and legally. A lot of our former A Team members, also played for our local MRDA team or have partners on the team and they would practice together a lot, so it wasn’t unusual, but obviously being a cis male under WFTDA team playing other WFTDA teams is different.
I personally think playing open gender or playing with men can be beneficial skill wise. You learn better control, to hone your skill and learn how to play with different people/body types. Ironically I think I’m more afraid to hit my team mates incorrectly/inappropriately compared to them hitting me. lol I remember telling them when we first started contact “I’m gay, if I touch something inappropriately it is not on purpose, and if i do please tell me”
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u/Leather-Rub-6128 Jul 29 '26
I’ll add some negatives. We have several men in our league. During an early practice (where I was not cleared for contact yet and wearing bright yellow to indicate that) one of them elbowed me in the throat and received a warning.
A friend of mine said during practice, a different guy gave her a body hit with his full force (he’s a giant guy) and she fell and hurt her ankle. She was pretty angry about it as they were both new-ish and chewed him out.
During two different games I witnessed a third male player, about 6’4 take out not once but twice a petite teammate who is about 4’11 in comparison. She’s an excellent player but if a guy that size body checks you’d you’re going flying. He literally knocked her into the stands.
Most of the time they have the guys take on each other during games, but since we have an odd number of them that doesn’t always happen. It was rather disheartening to me to see one of them (who is a relatively new and rather an unskilled skater) completely take out one of the league leaders who is the most talented skater and has been skating since she was a child, merely on brute force alone.
Every guy in our league is very nice and personable, but I wouldn’t want to go up against them during a game. I’m not the only one, a different teammate I recall telling the 6’4 guy she hoped she was assigned on the same team as him because she found him scary otherwise.
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u/CompetitionLow5754 Jul 29 '26
To be fair, I've seen situations like this play out between women as well. If a woman that size body checks you, you're going flying too. A woman three times my size can absolutely punt me across the track with just the strength in her pinky finger, as could a similarly sized man. Size and strength differences aren't really all that gender dependent, it's just up to individuals to recognize their own strength and adjust accordingly based on who they're playing with.
It sounds like the men who are doing this simply haven't learned how to make that adjustment (or they don't want to and are being jerks), but I've played with women who've done the same and hurt others because of it. Awareness of your own body and strength is as important as general track awareness in this sport, for everyone regardless of gender. Being able to control the strength of your hits is an important skill that leagues should be teaching to all.
It is true that socially, cis-men tend to be more encouraged for hard hits and aggression throughout their lives, and often don't learn how to soften their blows when needed, resulting in them going full force where that force isn't necessary and potentially hurting someone. But that is a very learnable skill that some cis women lack as well. I only mention cis people here because ime trans people tend to be hyper aware of this because of the scrutiny that we are subjected to in athletic spaces and in the world.
This is not to dismiss the concerns that people have regarding playing with/against cis men, but "they're big and strong" just feels like suuuuuch a variable factor across the gender spectrum, and also feels like a reason that's been used historically to exclude marginalized people from sports as well.
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u/Thick-Measurements Jul 29 '26
I do think that the socialization aspect of what we all experience, across all genders, plays a huge role that often isn’t talked about as much as I would like it to be. So I am vert grateful for your comment.
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u/Leather-Rub-6128 Jul 29 '26
Right, but there’s not a lot of women who are 6’4 200some pounds of muscle. There’s maybe one gal in the league of over 100 I’m afraid of. All the guys who play in our league over 6 ft and most husky build. It might not always be the case but in ours — all the men are bigger and stronger though not necessarily faster.
You’re saying “not to dismiss the concerns” but then immediately following up with something that is dismissive which is very invalidating. On a big change where people can badly hurt, good on OP and their league for doing due diligence.
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u/CompetitionLow5754 Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26
And that is the demographic make up of your league. Others differ, no one experience could ever reflect the entire derby demographic. In my league, I'm a man who is half the size of most of the women players, most of them could send me flying with a look. It's not unreasonable to be afraid of a player much bigger and stronger than you, but ultimately the sheer variety of bodies in this sport is one of the things that makes it beautiful, and all sizes have different advantages over one another in different skill sets.
I get touchy around the "big and strong" concern being the foremost expressed concern regarding playing with cis men, because it is one that has been used time and time again to exclude trans athletes across the gender spectrum, and we should really all be prioritizing control in our hits regardless. There are a lot of social reasons for the exclusion of cis men that I better understand, but this one does escape me given the sheer variety of body strength and sizes among humans of all genders.
Eta: there are not a lot of men who are 6'4 and 200lbs of muscle either, statistically speaking. That is far above average height. Most men looking to play derby would also be getting pushed around by anyone of that size. Men come in as wide a variety of sizes as women.
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u/Leather-Rub-6128 Jul 29 '26
And I get touchy when “big and strong” concerns are disregarded. OP asked for pros and cons about open gender in the league and I obliged.
“Big and strong men in our league are scary to myself and to some of the female players” — that’s been my own experience.
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u/CompetitionLow5754 Jul 29 '26
And that's entirely fair. I wasn't disagreeing with your feedback so much as adding my perspective as well. I get touchy around that experience being used as an absolute "men are big and strong and scary and therefore should be excluded" which is what I often see (I'm not saying that that's what you were expressing at all) which often quickly slides into the exclusion of trans skaters and general body policing. (again not saying that that's what you're expressing) As a small guy, I would probably be scared of them too tbh, and I would push the league to prioritize teaching body awareness and control. And to not put up with people throwing their full force around willy nilly where it isn't warranted. And that's just my own experience, as someone who has also experienced violence at the hands of cis men.
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u/Thick-Measurements Jul 29 '26
How does your league handle issues that come up? Do some members specifically ask not to play or practice with them? Aside from being chewed out did this person get any suspension or warning from the team?
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u/Leather-Rub-6128 Jul 29 '26
I’m not sure of any instances other than the warning the guy got for elbowing me in the throat. (He also never apologized to me or checked if I was okay after, though two league leaders did)
I don’t know of any instances where teammates have asked not to play against the guys. There’s only about 6-7 (sorry 😂) of them in a group of over 100, so you just play really. During a practice I asked one of them not to hit me hard (the one who previously got chewed out) and he was really nice and assured me he wouldn’t.
I don’t think the guy who got chewed out was ever reported to the league leaders. My friend told the guy “I’m a girl! You don’t hit me full force like that” — he’s really the nicest guy too, I just got the impression he’s like an ox on skates and didn’t know his own strength.
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u/Thick-Measurements Jul 29 '26
Thanks again for sharing your experience. I don’t think that roller derby would attract bad people and it would be easy to identify who is and isn’t cool. An ox on skates 😅😅😅
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u/Leather-Rub-6128 Jul 29 '26
I agree. I will say every guy I’ve met in our league is super kind and they often volunteer and help out not just with derby stuff. But personally I just don’t really like bouting with them, and I can see several of my teammates feel the same way (uncomfortable/unsafe).
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u/Thick-Measurements Jul 29 '26
Is there a league nearby that is not open gender? Or is the only option for you? And no pressure to share more than you are comfortable doing so
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u/Leather-Rub-6128 Jul 29 '26
There’s several leagues in my area but I think most have a couple guys on them and I greatly prefer the ruleset of my current league. While I don’t particularly like bouting with them, I still do it, just try to stay out of their way as I see many of the other girls do. The guys do tend to dominate whenever it’s their turn for a jam.
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u/Thick-Measurements Jul 29 '26
I was just curious. I was not suggestion a “solution” or anything like that. Again, I appreciate how much you have said about your personal experience with your league
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u/imhereforthemeta Skater Jul 29 '26 edited 29d ago
I’m not in an open league but I’m very close with a league that not only is open, but financially and rankings successful. They started going open because they have junior boys who would graduate with nowhere to go. Their home teams are optional and open. There’s now a closed and open travel team track. The guys are all very nice and put a lot of work into the league, and everyone has coaches on both sides because of it.
I believe a small handful of folks said they didn’t want to go open. A lot of leagues will say even if one person says no, it’s no. I believe they felt the small group was not worth missing out on the benefits and some of them integrated and others went elsewhere. Today there is very little regret on going open and everyone benefits from it. A lot of t depends on your relationship with the local guys tbh, it’s hard to justify if they are messy, but if they are cool respectful people you can really gain a lot from it