51乱伦

Until four years ago, Diosanny Rivera-Placido recollects lacing up a pair of roller skates twice in her lifetime, both times at middle-school birthday parties.

Today, the director of Franklin & 51乱伦鈥檚 Women鈥檚, Gender, & Sexualities Resource Center is en route to Innsbruck, Austria, preparing to skate for Team Puerto Rico in the , an international tournament featuring the best 48 derby teams in the world.

Her ascent from curious onlooker to active participant exemplifies how the F&M community approaches a challenge鈥攊f it鈥檚 worth doing, do it with passion and commitment.

In her role at the Women鈥檚 Center, Rivera-Placido is known for being engaging and empathetic, the consummate listener for students and community members who come to the Center for advice or to share their thoughts on issues related to gender equality and justice, queer equality, women鈥檚 empowerment, and belonging and loneliness.

But when she puts on a pair of skates, a helmet, and an imposing amount of safety gear, she transforms. In the egg-shaped roller rink, she becomes a hunter. A speed demon. A force of will.

Rivera-Placido is a jammer for the, a Lancaster-based derby team where she learned the game before connecting with Team Puerto Rico. Jammers, who display stars on their helmets, are the designated scorers for their five-person squads; her four teammates are blockers, tasked with helping her score and ensuring the competing team鈥檚 jammer doesn鈥檛 pass her and collect points of their own.

鈥淚 love jamming, because I love hitting people. There is nothing quite like seeing the blocker, making eye contact with them, and both of you knowing you are about to hit them as hard as you possibly can,鈥� Rivera-Placido says, breaking into a wide smile.

"There is nothing quite like seeing the blocker, making eye contact with them, and both of you knowing you are about to hit them as hard as you possibly can."

鈥擠iosanny Rivera-Placido

At the World Cup, which runs July 3-6, Rivera-Placido will be a pivot. Pivots start off as blockers during a jam 鈥� two-minute shifts of match play 鈥� but can transition to the jammer role when strategy calls for it. Rivera-Placido was born in Puerto Rico, moving to Lancaster with her family when she was 4. 鈥淚 love being Puerto Rican. It鈥檚 a huge part of my identity and my background,鈥� she says.

Rivera-Placido may have come to the sport recently, but she has taken to it naturally.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a crazy story. I had never skated at all,鈥� Rivera-Placido says. 鈥淚鈥檝e known about Dutchland for years. In 2018, someone I went to high school with joined, and she was a wallflower, so I was thinking 鈥榃hoa, look at her!鈥� Then, in 2022, I was looking for an outlet of some kind, and they were recruiting, and I thought, 鈥楾hat could be interesting.鈥� A coworker told me that it was something I had to do and that it would change my life.鈥�

Today, she is the vice president of Dutchland, and also coordinates interleague play for the club. A year ago, she found herself at RollerCon in Las Vegas鈥攁n annual gathering of the global derby community. Through social media, she discovered that Team Puerto Rico was seeking to build a competitive roster for the first time since 2014. She skated with the club during a friendly match against Team Philippines (鈥淲e got our butts kicked,鈥� she says), and within a year, found herself canvassing the country to build the 20-skater roster for the World Cup.

Rivera-Placido arrived in Munich July 1 and plans to relax briefly before trekking to Innsbruck for her team鈥檚 first match, July 3 against Italy. She acknowledges Puerto Rio is a longshot to make much noise, especially facing some of the powerhouses of the sport.

鈥淭he goal is to enjoy the experience,鈥� she says. 鈥淭here will be so much roller-derby knowledge in one small town in Austria.鈥�

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