Kailea Saplan shares her experiences playing roller derby in a league in Madison, Wisconsin. For Kailea, a self-described unathletic theater kid, participating in roller derby has built up her confidence and provided her with a community. As she describes, she plays with women and non-binary folks of all shapes and sizes, and players bond with each other over the intensity of the sport. However, while Kailea has found community in Madison’s roller derby league, her story is also about how our sense of belonging is on a spectrum. Kailea is bi-racial (Filipino and White) and from Hawaii—her roller derby name, Hawaii K-O is an homage to her heritage—and has to grapple with the Whiteness and Midwestern-ness of Wisconsin roller derby. These issues have become even more apparent over the last year as the country at large reckoned with its history of racism following the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Kailea reveals how spaces that are comforting and supportive can simultaneously be isolating. This is a complicated topic--in fact, we did two interviews: Kailea asked to come back and clarify some of her comments, particularly about race and her bi-racial identity as a roller derby player, and you’ll hear both parts in this episode.