Egyptian woman crash around a track.
CAIRO — Wherever it is played, roller derby, the skating contact sport enjoying a global revival powered by women, prides itself on a quirky subculture and jokey jargon.
In Egypt, they give it an archaeological twist. Novices are “mummies”; players of intermediate skill are “Cleopatras”; and those with six months training graduate to “Cairoller,” a full member of Egypt’s only roller derby club. They practice, twice a week, at an outdoor handball court at the Cairo International Stadium, honing their skills in essential aspects — moving fast and barging opponents out of the way. A lot like daily life in Cairo.
“If you fall, you get up quickly,” said Reem El Desouky, 29, a copywriter who goes by the moniker Lady Macdeath. “If you get hit, you absorb it and move it. These are things you carry into your everyday life. It toughens you up a bit.”
One problem of daily life for women here is sexual harassment. The Thomson Reuters Foundation recently rated Cairo as the most dangerous megacity for women in the world. The Cairollers, a mixture of students and professional women in their 20s and 30s, say roller derby’s bump and tumble help release their frustrations, and offer a sense of empowerment. It’s also simply a way to purge the stresses of living in a cramped, polluted megalopolis of 24 million people.
Nada el Masri, 23, a customer service representative in a bank, deals with impatient, loud customers all day long. “I have to be pleasant and smile,” she said. “So on a good day I’ll come here, play for two hours, and it all goes away.”
Roller derby, which started in the United States in the 1930s, has surged in popularity in the past 15 years. In the Middle East teams have sprung up in Cairo, Beirut, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Some Cairollers learned of the sport through Whip It, a Hollywood movie from 2009 about a rebellious young woman who breaks the shackles of her conservative upbringing by joining a roller derby team.
The Cairo players might identify with that. Many of them wear head scarves tucked under their helmets, in deference to religious sensibilities. A number are married; others live with their parents. One 34-year- old player has three children. Several are former ballerinas.
Yet they have grown to relish the bangs and bruises of the sport, even the frequent injuries. Just about every player has a story of a sprained ankle, a bloodied knee or a knockedout tooth. Bruises, known as “derby kisses,” are a badge of pride.
“I like bruises,” said Sumer Abdelnasser, 26, a scriptwriter. “They made me more comfortable with my body, more confident with contact.”
The team is driven in part by a sense of warm camaraderie. Members gather for juice after training or hold pizza parties. What they lack are opponents. Last year, the Cairollers played their f i rst competitive games against visiting women’s teams from Abu Dhabi and Marseilles, France. Before her first game, Ms. El Desouky was sick with anxiety, she said. But once the whistle sounded, her worries vanished.
“It’s was really, really awesome,” she said. “I can’t wait to do it again.”