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Raleigh skater chosen for the USA Roller Derby Team

Raleigh native Jenn Card has been selected to represent the United States on the USA Roller Derby Team.

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By
Richard Adkins
, WRAL photojournalist

Jenn Card started skating when she was four.

“Whether it's ice skates or roller skates, I just love being on skates, gliding around doing things.” ,she said, wearing her brand new USA Roller Derby T-shirt.

The big thing she's doing now is skating for the USA Roller Derby Team. “I get to represent the United States. It's amazing,” she said.

Card grew up in Raleigh. She is the only North Carolinian on the team.

“It's become quite an obsession,” she says of skating.

It's something she never really intended on taking this far. “I just started skating, playing derby, because it sounded awesome, I had seen a couple of games at Dorton Arena, and I thought, well, I could do that,” Card said.

She did do that. And has been doing that for nearly a decade. She skates regularly with the Carolina Roller Derby. “The thing about derby is, I actually get to hit people, which is an amazing way to get some aggression out,” she said Tuesday at her home. “Also to really challenge my body, my mental ability, because this is the most challenging thing physically I have ever done.”

She's had her challenges before. Card started figure skating at the age of four.

“It's not the healthiest environment for a young girl growing up," she said. "I did develop a serious eating disorder. I was anorexic. I was hospitalized. I actually came very very close to dying.”

Roller derby, she said, changed her life, “A lot of it is an inner confidence I didn't have before. If I can do this on the track, I can do anything in my life.”

Card is raising money and looking for sponsorship. As part of the team she will travel to Barcelona, Spain, to compete in the World Roller Games in July.

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