A southeast athlete is heading to the national stage as Cecilia McCaskill is returning to her role on Team Canada's U18 roller derby team to compete, heading to Australia. McCaskill has been a roller derby athlete for eight years, playing in leagues around the southeast before making the under-18 team last year at just 16 years old.
McCaskill says she's getting ready to head to Brisbane, Australia, for the 2025 Junior Roller Derby World Cup.
"It'll be fun, but kind of scary at the same time. I have 18 hours on a flight to kind of sit and be anxious about."
The trip will start off with some team bonding for all the players ahead of their games, which begin on July 24.
The community has helped out McCaskill by making sure the family had enough to get her to Australia for the event.
"We've got most of Australia paid for, and we had two really big fundraisers. Those went really well. There are many people that I've never seen before who have come and supported me, and lots of people that I do know. Of course, some people from work who are regulars at work that I know and just kind of supported me throughout."
Brandy McCaskill, Cecilia's mother and the coach of the Estevan Coaler Rollers, thanked the community for all of the support.
That support helped out with several roller derby events that Cecilia has attended since being named to the U18 national team.
"Thank you to the community and Estevan for for supporting, supporting a local junior athlete. The Australia trip is $5000, but that didn't include any of the practices she went to in Toronto. She went to Red Deer, and she went to Vancouver, so Australia alone was just $5000, and we got that pretty much fundraised with our two big events. We had a spaghetti night and a trade show."
The 2025 Junior Roller Derby World Cup is set for July 24-28, with teams from across the globe making an appearance.