Team Jewish Roller Derby laces up their skates

Adelaide's Alex Knopoff has traded library books for roller skates, becoming the first person outside North America to compete for Team Jewish Roller Derby at next month’s Roller Derby World Cup in Austria.

The 28-year-old Communications Manager once earned an award in primary school for borrowing the most books from the library and struggled in PE class. "I was very bookish. I had to be forced to play sport. It was the only subject I didn't do well in in school."

Yet from 3-6 July, she'll be lacing up her quad skates in Innsbruck, Austria as one of the "jammers” for Team Jewish Roller Derby at the Roller Derby World Cup—the sport's equivalent of the Olympics.

Roller derby is a full-contact sport played on an indoor oval track. Two teams field five players at a time, competing on quad roller skates. The objective is simple: one player from each team, called the jammer, tries to lap members of the opposing team to score points, while the other four players—blockers—use legal physical contact to stop the opposing jammer while helping their own. Games are aerobically intense and often unforgiving.

Knopoff’s unlikely path into the sport began with a movie. In 2009, she watched the comedy Whip It, a film about a teenage girl struggling to fit into a small Texan town when she discovers roller derby. At the age 13, Knopoff loved the film, but never expected the sport to exist in Australia – let alone that she'd one day compete at the world's highest level.

It wasn't until after high school that a classmate mentioned a roller derby introductory program. "She was like, ‘Anyone can do it. You just get taught how to skate as part of the program.’”

At 18, armed with a cheap set of skates, Knopoff started out. Her debut session was a brutal affair. "I couldn't walk for the next four days. It was the first time I'd ever had DOMS [delayed onset muscle soreness] and I didn't know what it was. I couldn't bend my knees and people laughed at me."

Yet roller derby offered something new and compelling: a community of outsiders who had found their place. The modern incarnation of Roller Derby—it was first created in the early 20^th century—has been led and evolved by women and attracts many LGBTQ+ people, outsiders, non-conformists, and those seeking empowerment through physicality.

"I'm gay, so when I was 18, I was still freshly out and didn't know a lot of other gay people," Knopoff explains. "I met lots through roller derby. It's really empowering to play a sport where women and gender diverse people are centered and celebrated."

After initially failing to make Adelaide Roller Derby, Knopoff trained with a smaller league before successfully trying out again.

Years of dedication paid off when Team Jewish Roller Derby—one of several "borderless teams" representing diaspora communities rather than geographic nations—put out an open call for their World Cup squad.

"I'd been following Jewish Roller Derby for years," Knopoff says. "They're mostly US-based, so I was like, well, I'll never get a chance to play with them, just geographically speaking."

From 60 applicants worldwide, Knopoff was selected as one of 20 players, making her the first non-North American ever chosen for the team. She'll compete as a jammer, alongside borderless teams including Black Diaspora Roller Derby, Black Diaspora Roller Derby and SALAAM Roller Derby, as well nation-states like Brasil, England, Korea and Australia.

For the World Cup, Knopoff will skate under the name "Smasha Lyonne"—a Jewish-themed play on actress Natasha Lyonne, replacing her usual derby name "Rage Ruthless." She joins teammates with names like "Kosher Assault," "Mazel Tough," and her personal favorite, "Schindler's Fist."

The team plans to celebrate its heritage during the tournament with a Shabbat service and a hora at the after-party. Its uniforms feature a lion logo, and its jammer helmet sports a Star of David instead of the traditional star.

Knopoff’s Jewish journey began when her family joined Beit Shalom, Adelaide's progressive synagogue, when she was 10. Her father, originally from California, was culturally Jewish but not synagogue-connected until moving to Australia. Despite her mother not being Jewish, the family became deeply involved in Adelaide's small but committed progressive community.

"My whole family is really quite involved in the synagogue, even my mum," Alex notes. "We are all in the choir together. My dad is the president of Beit Shalom at the moment. And my mum has been on a lot of Jewish boards in Adelaide—Jewish Community Services and the Holocaust Museum."

Knopoff herself has been on Beit Shalom's board for eight years, directed Purim spiels, taught Sunday school, participated in Netzer youth movement, and led the youth group JAZY—an amalgamation of different Jewish movements designed to serve Adelaide's small community.

Her connection to Judaism deepened during her bat mitzvah preparation. "Once I started connecting with it, I really connected with it. I decided to become kosher when I was studying for my bat mitzvah," she says.

Now Knopoff gets to merge her two identities on the world stage. The team includes players across the spectrum of Jewish observance and Israel-related views, united instead by shared identity.

"Part of the beauty of the team is that all those things can coexist, but we're still united by our Jewish heritage and connection to that identity."

Despite Israel’s War with Gaza and now Iran, and the associated rise of antisemitism, the Team isn't concerned about antisemitism at the tournament. "Roller derby is generally a very inclusive sport. People really love the borderless teams, the whole concept of them."

Instead, Knopoff is excited to challenge stereotypes. "Some of my teammates have told me about how they get to show Jewish athleticism, which maybe is something that people don't necessarily consider Jews to be traditionally. To be able to challenge that is really important."

Entirely self-funded, Team Jewish Roller Derby (Jewish athletes representing the diaspora on a global scale) is seeking funds to help subsidise accommodation and food for their World Cup campaign. To donate (in USD only) and for more Information about supporting the team visit this link.