Dessy Junsay Murphy

Women’s roller derby is a hard-hitting sport: Skaters speed around a track knocking into each other, sometimes bruising body parts and every once in a while breaking bones. It’s atypical for players to get involved as late as their 30s, but at 38, Dessy Junsay Murphy is just starting her seventh year as a member of the Monterey Bay Derby Dames – and getting ready to be more competitive than ever.

Next month Murphy will play on the 19-skater inaugural Team Philippines for the Roller Derby World Cup in Manchester, England, after trying out last summer in Las Vegas. The Philippines is one of 10 new countries – along with Korea, Iceland and Team Indigenous for North American native people, among others – of the 40 total teams skating in the Third World Cup, which started in 2011.

Murphy will be playing the position of pivot, which is a blocker that can also be a jammer (the player responsible for scoring points for every opponent she passes on subsequent laps).

The Seaside native, who works as an athletic trainer, is better known by teammates as The Secret Cervix, her derby nickname – one of the punny (and often dirty) traditions of the sport. She spoke to the Weekly in advance of her World Cup matches Feb. 1-4.

Weekly: How did you first get involved with roller derby?

Murphy: I was bored, and a co-worker told me about it after seeing a flier for it. I was riding my bike to work and was bored with that exercise. I knew how to skate, so I decided to join their new skater training. There are not a lot of people who join a traveling, competitive, collision sport in their 30s.

It can get pretty rough on the track. What do you like about the sport?

It’s more than just the skating. It’s an important community through Monterey Bay Derby Dames. A lot of roller derby leagues operate as nonprofits, so a lot of those teams are out in the local community helping out. It’s a fun form of exercise.

It’s also a supportive group that is motivating to stay active. It’s an instant family. There wasn’t much of a skate culture [before the Dames started in 2010], unlike in Santa Cruz. You need a group you connect with, and the team allows an active place to belong.

Skating is fun, and team sports are fun. Learning to move in powerful ways and doing it in competition – aggressively, safely, strategically – means you are pushing the limits in lots of physical, mental, and even social ways. It’s endlessly challenging.

What have you learned from derby?

I’ve learned to appreciate collision sports and other risky activities. We like to conquer things and people and concepts with our own hands, our own bodies, our own faculties. That inkling plays into a lot of powerful motivations, individually and sociologically. You also become cognizant of the extent to which you are willing to push yourself.

You play a high-impact sport as an athlete, and spend your day job helping people train. What’s something you think people should appreciate more about movement or taking care of their bodies?

We move less than we should in the ways that we should, so keep trying to find the best way and the most fun way to dial that in for yourself. Maybe because derby is so diverse in terms of age, focus and athletic (or non-athletic) background, you absolutely must invest in your physical self.

What do you expect at the World Cup?

It’s going to be a very high level of competition. Teams from Australia and teams from Europe are all very good. A lot of us are excited because we’re getting some exposure for the sport; other high-level roller derby tournaments have been shown on ESPN channels.

Do you think that kind of growing awareness is important?

Derby worldwide is still expanding rapidly, so it makes sense to grow the tournament. We are also seeing parity at the highest levels of the sport from Europe, South America and Australia. It makes sense to have a set of events that stage the athleticism and commitment on par with what other sports have, like the World Cup for soccer and the Olympics. Also, Team Indigenous draws their athletes from all over the world, not just North America.

You play using the name Secret Cervix. What are some of the best derby names you have seen?

I’m partial to the classics, like Liza Machete, Injure Rogers and Syphilis Diller.

To learn more or livestream the ROLLER DERBY WORLD CUP 2018, visit rollerderbyworldcup.com