Black Derby Collective Is Heading to Sweden! Here's How They Got There.
Roller derby has existed since 1935, but the flat-track version most fans know today only took shape in the early 2000s.
In the two decades since, no team has done what Black Derby Collective just did: become the first sanctioned all-Black team in the Women's Flat Track Derby Association's history — and qualify for the biggest stage the sport has, in their very first season.
Black Derby Collective Origin Story
BDC's origin traces back to conversations at the 2025 Roller Derby World Cup. Built as a borderless team — skaters recruited from leagues across the country rather than tied to one city — BDC went on to win gold at the WFTDA North America Playoffs in South Carolina this May, punching their ticket to the 2026 WFTDA Global Championships in Malmö, Sweden this October: the first time the tournament has ever been held in Europe.
Along the way, BDC has faced its share of "super team" criticism — the idea that stacking a roster with experienced skaters is somehow unfair.
Steering committee member Queen Looseyateefa addressed that directly in an op-ed earlier this year, writing that the team "collected the people the elite left behind," not the other way around. The result: A team where WFTDA MVPs, Olympians, and working parents bring out the best in each other.
BDC Player Erin Jackson
At the 2022 Winter Olympics, Jackson became the first Black woman to win an individual Olympic gold medal. The Florida native started skating at a young age and picked up speed skating in 2017. Jackson, who became the first Black woman selected as a U.S. flag bearer at the Winter Olympics (2026), actually tried roller derby before she ever hit the ice.
"I was in college, and I was also working with a skate company that had sponsored me as an inline skater. They took me to the roller derby championships that year — I was maybe a month or two into the sport. I got to watch, saw all the best athletes in the world, and just really fell in love with it, seeing it at the highest level. I was like, I definitely want to be there someday," Jackson told me.
Jackson is primarily a jammer, the player on the team who uses their speed to score, though Blaxyl Rose says Erin also shows promise as a blocker or even a pivot, the main blocker and tactical leader of the team.
BDC Player Blaxyl Rose
Blaxyl Rose has been skating since 2017. They began competing to have something that could be theirs, only theirs.
"I was a parent and a wife, and I had two jobs, and everything in my life was for everybody else," they said during our interview last week.
"My second job was at a gym, and they sponsored the local roller derby team. I saw that and thought, this will be something I get to push my own limits with and prioritize my own health and fitness — and nobody else gets to touch it. That's what I wanted, something just for me. That's why I'm still doing it today — no matter what changes in my life, roller derby is not for anybody else but me," they added. Through the challenges of life, including a serious car accident, Blayxl Rose has always found solace on the track, and more specifically, with Black Derby Collective.
The sense of community isn't only good for the vibes; it's good for competition too!
"I often say you are going to play better than you ever have in your life on this team. You feel empowered. You feel trusted. You feel capable of things you didn't know you could do." That's the energy Blaxyl Rose and the rest of the Black Derby Collective is taking to Sweden next month.
"We deserve to exist. We deserve to skate together. We deserve to go do the best we can in Sweden. And we deserve everything that's coming to us after that," they added.
BDC Player Blaque Jac
Blaque Jac has been competing for various roller derby teams since 2009. She competed for small teams as she learned to skate and take hits on the track.
She caught the itch when she moved to Florida.
"That's when I relearned it, or felt deeper in love with roller derby. That league, I created friendships I still have to this day. It was just a fun time — I really got my fundamentals down, my mental toughness, my teamwork. That's when I knew: I want to play this sport as long as I can."
Blaque Jac was named the 2019 WFTDA Playoffs MVP with the Atlanta Roller Derby team.
However, she told me that starting Black Derby Collective is the highlight of her career.
"I've had many goals, and I've reached a lot of goals in derby. But creating this has been a great thing to see, because it's not for me — it's for all the other skaters that join."
Admittedly, competing for a championship wasn't one of the first-year goals, but Blaque Jac is thrilled with how well the team has performed while uplifting the community.
"There's very few platforms or stages where you see most of us around each other... We collected skaters that don't have that outlet of being around other Black skaters. That was our main goal — to bring together this culture in one big pot."
Support the trip to Sweden
Getting a team to Malmö isn't cheap. BDC's silent auction to help fund the trip is live now at givebutter.com/c/bdcwftdachamps.
You can also visit the WFTDA Tournament Central for more information about the other teams competing and the streaming links to watch the tournament.
Black Derby Collective will open the tournament against Adelaide, representing the 2nd-place team from the Oceania Region. The winners will take on Rainy City, the 2nd-place team from the Europe Region.
Our interview with Black Derby Collective is part of a new Black Women in Sports series. We are interviewing athletes, coaches, executives, and storytellers breaking barriers and disrupting the sports industry.
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