Portland roller derby players will be well represented among the international teams competing at the Roller Derby World Cup, which launches Thursday in Austria. Multiple players from the Rose City Rollers will be competing in the event, including Lex Zhang, or as she’s known on skates, Lexsanguination. But she won’t be on the U.S. team. She’ll be there playing with a borderless team called Chinese Nations Roller Derby.

Lex Zhang spoke to “Think Out Loud” about the World Cup and the joys of roller derby.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

What is the Roller Derby World Cup?

“Roller derby is not an Olympic sport. So this is sort of our Olympics, and so many teams from different nations send roller derby skaters as part of a team, and we play each other. So I get to play many different countries. The first team that we’re playing is the West Indies team. I just think this is a fantastic way to get people from all over the world to play roller derby together on skates and to meet new people from across the world.”

What is the Chinese Nations Roller Derby team?

“So Chinese Nations Roller Derby is a team of people who have Chinese descendancy — that is our heritage … It does not necessarily mean that we live all in one place. In fact, we have skaters that are coming from Australia, all parts of the United States, Canada, and across the UK to join us in Austria. And I think it’s something really cool that we share this cultural heritage and we’re skating in the same uniform underneath the same flag because we share this culture together and not necessarily because we’re from the same place.”

What it means to skate for a borderless team

“Roller derby is a relatively white sport, so I don’t see a lot of people that look like me on the track with me. And so when this team first started in October of last year and asked for skaters to join, I immediately sent in the form because I really wanted to skate with people who are also of Chinese descent.

For me, growing up, a contact sport was never something that I was ever pushed towards. It was never like you can’t do that kind of thing, but it was just something that isn’t part of my culture. And so to be able to get on the track and share this part of me with other people who share the same culture as me is really, really awesome.

What you feel like you belong to and belong with does not really root itself in where you live or where you came from. For a lot of people who have Chinese heritage — you don’t live in China, Macau, Hong Kong, [and] there are a lot of people who live across the globe and identify as being Chinese.

I think that’s really cool, and I think that’s really a way to connect with people as well. Even though I might not be from the UK, or France or Australia, this is something that we can connect on. This is something that we can share. We’re going to have a team dinner at a Chinese restaurant, and it just seems really, really awesome and really right. That’s what we’re doing.”

About the team uniform

“For the first time ever, also, my Chinese name is on my uniform, which I think is really, really amazing. I didn’t realize how big of a deal that would have been to me until I got my uniform and saw my Chinese name written on it. On the front of the jersey, which is red, it says Chinese Nations. It does ombré down to yellow at the bottom with sort of like dragonscale-looking things, with a dragon on the side as well. On the back is my number and my name, my pronouns, as well as my Chinese name.

This jersey is incredible, it’s beautiful, and it represents a lot in terms of our Chinese heritage. Red is a lucky color. It’s bordered in green, which represents jade. And there’s a cloud motif on the front, as well as the dragon, which is all traditional in China.”

Skating together for the first time at the World Cup

“I haven’t skated with them yet. Austria will actually be the first time that we all skate together. There have been contingents that have gotten together in Canada and in the UK, but not together as a whole team.

We’ve had a couple of meetings now to talk about strategy. We have a playbook that we’ve developed. And a lot of times we are just trying to find shared language … So what’s really cool about roller derby is that a lot of the strategies can be very similar … It’s going to be a bit chaotic, but I think that’s part of roller derby. I think it’s going to be really fun to figure out how to skate with each other and to watch us all gel together in the days that we’re there. I’m sure the first game will be a little bit chaotic and a little messy. But as we skate together more, I anticipate that we’ll gel together and play well together.”

Lex Zhang spoke on “Think Out Loud.” Press the play arrow below to listen to the whole conversation.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/06/29/portland-oregon-roller-derby-world-cup-lexsanguination-lex-zhang-chinese-nations/