A roller derby match and a congressional meeting have more in common than one might expect. Think mayhem, smackdowns, and a lot of people going in circles.
One striking difference, which is particularly apparent in Bay Area Derby (BAD) and many of its sister leagues, is their respective approaches to trans athletes.
On the roller rink, trans athletes competing in women’s sports is a non-issue. On the federal and state congressional floors, it’s become as hot of a topic as deportations, the economy, and federal worker firings.
Governor Gavin Newsom has only fueled the fire by calling the inclusion of trans women in women’s sports “deeply unfair.” [Read former NCAA swimmer Vivian Redmond and activist Gabriel Haaland’s responses to Newsom and what 48 Hills’ founder Tim Redmond calls a “tepid response” from SF’s City Hall.]
For longtime Bay Area Derby player, member of the San Francisco Rolling Dead, and trans athlete Umm Kaboom, the local roller derby league’s inclusion of trans and gender non-conforming skaters isn’t up for debate.
“As for trans women who play in women’s sports, trans women are women,” says Kaboom. “They belong in sports. To exclude us from sports is to exclude us from public life.”
Since 2004, Bay Area Derby has presented full-contact, flat-track women’s roller derby as it’s meant to be exhibited: fast skating, big hits, and lots of camp. Not to mention, open to all athletes who identify as women.
The 2025 BAD Season Opener is set for Sat/5, and it’s shaping up to be a must-see event! The San Francisco Rolling Dead will take on the Oakland Outlaws at Richmond Memorial Auditorium in what could be the most exciting local showdown since last summer’s Bay Bridge Series between the Giants and A’s. [Check out BAD’s complete home game schedule here.]
Ahead of the big game, I caught up with Kaboom to chat about getting into roller derby, handling the sport’s intense physical and mental challenges, and why the topic of trans women in women’s sports has been so polarizing.
48 HILLS How did you first get involved with the Bay Area Derby?
UMM KABOOM I joined BAD in 2018 when I moved to the Bay Area, after playing with Madison and Toronto Roller Derby. BAD is considered one of the “grandmother” leagues in roller derby, one of the first leagues established during the flat track revival of the early 2000s. At one point, BAD was ranked the No. 3 league in the world. So I joined.
48 HILLS How did you choose your derby name?
UMM KABOOM My original roller derby name was Kate Silver, a feminization of Nate Silver, the political forecaster and commentator. At the time, I was doing fun statistical analyses of things like “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” so the name seemed appropriate. However, Nate Silver has turned into a real shitbird online, so I changed my name to Umm Kaboom (pronounced OOM ka-BOOM), which is a riff on the Egyptian classical singer Umm Kulthum. I’m Egyptian, and “Umm” is an honorific for calling someone “mother” in Arab culture. Kaboom is self-explanatory. So it is much more faithful to who I am.
48 HILLS Why is roller derby exciting?
UMM KABOOM Roller derby is fun because it allows you to use your body in ways you don’t usually get to. On its face, the premise is absurd: put on wheelie shoes and run into your friends at moderately high speeds. Many people come into the sport from non-sport backgrounds, and there’s something very empowering and supportive in being able to do a full-contact sport when you’re not used to doing such a thing. It’s like drag and rugby on wheels.
48 HILLS How would you describe the SF team versus the Oakland team?
UMM KABOOM The San Francisco Rolling Dead is a zombie-themed team. Brrraaaaains. The Oakland team is the Oakland Outlaws. Yeeeeehaw! Honestly, we all practice together and support each other in all the ways that teammates usually do.
48 HILLS How do you balance the physical and mental demands?
UMM KABOOM Derby is a lot more mental, and honestly, administrative. Roller derby is 10 percent physical and 90 percent running a nonprofit by committee. Yes, I cross-train, do physical therapy, pre-hab for injuries, and train, but most of my time is spent in meetings, working on contracts, and managing projects. It’s hard to balance; my boss likes to say that I work my daytime job to support my true job—roller derby.
48 HILLS What does it mean to you to be visible as a trans athlete in sports?
UMM KABOOM It’s vital to be visible, especially right now. I began in the sport when there were much fewer trans people involved. We could count on one hand all the out trans people. I’ve been told multiple times that my presence has meant others could get involved and feel included. Right now, multiple trans teams play together, including Trans Rollers United and The Trans Agenda, and I’m so thrilled these teams exist.
48 HILLS There’s been so much talk about trans athletes lately. Why are politicians making this an issue? What insight can you share about your experience and why you belong in a women’s league just as much as anyone else?
UMM KABOOM Politicians are obsessed with trans athletes because they are obsessed with trans women and a fake fear of predation on cis women, even though they don’t give an actual fuck about the safety of women, nor do they care about women’s sports. It’s out-and-out trans misogyny, the fact that trans women are an affront to masculinity.
The inclusion of trans people in this sport has normalized being accepted and celebrated.
48 HILLS How do you respond to critics saying that trans women have an unfair athletic advantage due to greater bone density and heart and lung size?
UMM KABOOM So there’s the scientific response here. There’s been some scholarship on things like bone density, cardiovascular response, etc. for trans women after transition. Much of this research suggests that physical characteristics end up not giving trans women a competitive advantage in sports. But as you may imagine, this scholarship is contested and is a minefield to navigate. My friend, former classmate, and former Olympian Madi Pape has written extensively on this.
There’s a broader, political response grift around crying about trans and (even masculine cis) women, even though there has never been an out trans woman to win a gold medal in an Olympic sport. Many people have come out against Lia Thomas after her NCAA wins to get a piece of the limelight on Fox News.
The same happened for Dutee Chand and Caster Semenya, with the additional wrinkle that those two are runners of color and their opponents used white women’s tears to get onto the world stage. Transphobia is the wedge through which some people start entering the far-right, under the rubric of “fairness,” when they don’t care about this.
48 HILLS Are there any league policies or rules you’d like improved to better support trans athletes?
UMM KABOOM Our league and the policies of our umbrella association, the WFTDA, are pretty good. It wasn’t good, but many people—including me—fought like hell for them. Other sports could take a page from them.
48 HILLS Where do you see the sport of roller derby heading?
UMM KABOOM Roller derby has a long way to go and faces a lot of challenges, as I think any amateur predominantly women’s and/or queer sport does in the next few years, especially with rising fascism. We are one of the places where trans people can play with less (but not no) interference. We have to defend those gains fiercely.
48 HILLS What’s next for you in your derby journey?
UMM KABOOM I’ll try to keep skating as long as my knees will let me (but my knees are already fucked after an ACL repair from last April on my right leg and one 10 years ago on my left). After that, I’ll be around—as an announcer, a coach, an official. Whatever I can get away with.
2025 BAY AREA DERBY SEASON OPENER Sat/5, 4-9pm. Runs through October 25. Richmond Memorial Auditorium, Richmond. More info here.
