She played a variety of sports until 2006 when she stumbled across roller derby.
"I still had my skates and I still loved skating but I hadn't skated in years. But I was like, 'that it, that's what I want to do'.
"My two favourite things were skating and soccer so it kind of mixed what I loved from those. The skating was individual and skills like balance, jumps and spins. And then the soccer part was more team sport and a different sort of competitiveness."
In 2007 Gaskins joined Pittsburgh based Steel City Roller Derby which over the next decade went from being unranked into the top 20 in roller derby's international rankings.
But seeking higher competition she recently shifted to Florida to play for Jacksonville RollerGirls who are currently ranked about 7th.
"I'm in my tenth season of derby which is a long time to be playing and I wanted to experience derby at the top ten level. Steel City had been doing really well but we were in that 20s, 30s, 40s. It's a big jump into that top 10 and top 5 and that's what I wanted."
Gaskins has also played international roller derby since the inception of Team USA which has won both World Cups in 2011 and 2014. "It was incredible," she says.
"At that level we have all taken our training pretty seriously but we're all having so much fun. The USA practices are some of the hardest that I could ever be in but they're absolutely the most fun."
In its modern form roller derby is a five-a-side contact sport in which both teams designate a jammer who scores points by lapping members of the opposing team.
But last century it was predominantly a form of entertainment - a spectacle rather than a competitive sport - and it's that which gives the sport it's unique culture such as the player nicknames.
"It was a pretty punk rock type movement at first," Gaskins says. "I don't see that as much any more but the feel of it is there; that it is something different, that it goes against the grain to a degree. It allows for more individual creativity."
She says that is part of the attraction of the sport and why it is growing fast.
"The excitment that everyone has is kind of contagious," she says. "It's more of a culture that you're joining."
Gaskins also enjoys the 'by the players, for the players' nature of how the sport is run and says it will be interesting to watch how the sport changes as it grows and faces more outside influences.
"It's about 15 years old and that's very young for a sport so I think structurally it's going to change to its needs."
She says there needs to be a balancing act between growth and new opportunities, and keeping it grassroots.
"At the top level, seeing how sponsorship works, seeing how money starts coming in because it's so big companies are going to want to start seeing a little bit more.
"How derby in general deals with that and grows with that will be very interesting. I think we've done well so far. Derby has learned how to grow exponentially without being mainstream."
With another World Cup too look forward to Gaskins immediate future remains in roller derby and she enjoys being able to give back to the sport by coaching around the world.
"I think that has actually kept me in the sport as long as I've been in. It's really invigorating to go out and see the excitment that everyone is feeling. I can give them something but they absolutely give that to me."
