North America is in the midst of a roller derby renaissance. After the female-dominated contact sport lulled in the late 1980s and ’90s, teams and leagues have in recent years formed by the dozens. Here in Alberta, two leagues in Edmonton, another in Calgary and a handful of others around the province are drawing hundreds to cheer on a spectacle that combines athleticism, action and a unique feminist aesthetic.

Instructor and alum Celeste Thiesen (Interior Design Technology ’97; pictured above) has made her own contribution to derby’s resurgence by recently co-founding the St. Albert Heavenly Rollers league and team. Here, Thiesen, a veteran roller known as Petra Phi, explains the game and its renewed powers of attraction. - SM

I started roller derby about three years ago. A fellow designer got me into the sport; obviously, she picked up on my personality and realized that I would probably like a sport with full contact. I’m pretty outgoing and very social, and I think my colleagues have described me as aggressive.

I used to be a figure skater so the skating part didn’t take me long, but the contact and figuring out the game took me a lot longer. Unfortunately my first time out was a hitting practice and I just thought, "Oh dear, what have I done?" It’s the checking that's tough. But then you time your hit just right and it’s magic.

Derby is a very strategic game. The physical contact is not random. We’re not just smashing girls around for no reason. It’s very calculated.

Basically, it’s all about helping your jammer. There’s four blockers from each team: they make up the pack. There’s two jammers that start at the back, one from each team. Those are the point-scorers.

Their job is to get through the pack and pass the opposing players as many times as they can and accumulate points for every one they pass.

The blocker’s job is to stop the opposing jammer and also to help their own jammer through the pack.

My roller derby name is Petra Phi. Phi is the golden number. It’s a ratio that the ancient Greeks used to build things like the Parthenon. So obviously my number is the ratio, which is 1.618. It comes from teaching Architectural Technology and Interior Design Technology at NAIT, with a focus on history in both. I love it when mathletes come up to me and say, "Hey, that's the golden number." I love you, mathletes.

I know there’s a stigma about derby, that it’s all show. People are thinking they’re going to get a bunch of actors pretending to do something, but it’s athleticism first, entertainment second.

When most people think about derby, they think about biker chicks with no future, but that’s just not the case. Most of us in the St. Albert Heavenly Rollers are professionals. Besides me, we have a lawyer, an emergency medical technician, a graphic designer, two girls in HR, a team physiotherapist. The complexity of the game and using your noggin to play it is attractive to professionals. It’s a challenge mentally, as well.

All of us on the team absolutely love derby. It is probably the premier thing in our lives, for the most part. At the start it’s a way to get in shape. Then you begin to love the game, and you begin to love the girls you’re playing with. They become part of your family. It’s a sisterhood and a camaraderie that’s incredibly positive and incredibly supportive as well, which is hard to find in life.

And it’s an outlet. Hitting practices are my favourite. I was trying not to be aggressive in this interview, but I’m not going to lie – that’s definitely attractive.

But the greatest thing about roller derby is that it’s accepting of everybody, regardless of your skill level, whether you’ve skated before, your sports background or your shape and size. Anyone can come out and play it.

We take you in and train you and just envelope you into our group. We all respect each other. That’s a requirement of our group.

Something I’ve learned over the years is that there’s nothing more rewarding than watching your newbies come out and do a fantastic job.

It’s daunting for new players. There were practices in my first few months that I thought, "Can I do this for the long haul?" But seeing them out there is the best. And I think that’s why I love teaching, too, just seeing those kids succeed. It is incredibly rewarding.

As told to Scott Messenger