What began as a routine roller derby practice in April 2017 at the St. Louis Skatium led to one of the most traumatic and difficult journeys that Gabe Montesanti would ever have to face.
Monstesanti was practicing a 180 鈥� a spin move that is typically simple 鈥� but she tripped in the process, leading to her fall and traumatic leg injury.
鈥淚 knew the bone was broken right away,鈥� Montesanti said. 鈥淚 could hear it crack.鈥�
Montesanti didn鈥檛 want an ambulance. Instead, her teammates wheeled her to a car in a rickety old office chair and rushed her to the hospital.
This accident made her stop and question her priorities. But her teammates carried her through and showed her that this wasn鈥檛 just a sport but a community.
Montesanti鈥檚 biological family was not accepting of her queer identity, and she has been estranged from them for some time now. In joining roller derby, she found a place of acceptance, a new home, where you could come as you are and be welcomed with open and loving arms.
She took on the derby name Gabe 鈥淛oan of Spark鈥� Montesanti. Her team, Arch Rival Roller Derby, would go on to claim victory after victory, and are now ranked second in the world. They will compete this November for a global title in Portland, Oregon.
Remembering the past聽
While moving from Bowling Green to St. Louis for grad school for creative nonfiction, a woman approached Montesanti and her now-wife at a coffee shop. She had a pitch to make.
鈥淵ou look like you鈥檙e really tough,鈥� Monesanti remembered the stranger saying. 鈥淵ou look like you could beat the crap out of somebody. You should come play roller derby.鈥�
Montesanti took a flier, inspired by this woman鈥檚 compliment and bravado. She went to St. Louis Skatium鈥檚 recruit night in 2016 and was hooked right away.
鈥淭he rest was history,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 mean, I started breaking bones and I started making friends and I started falling in love with the sport.鈥�
And break bones she did. Almost immediately she broke her thumb, making it impossible to write, the reason she came to St. Louis. Even with the broken bones, roller derby became her top priority 鈥� rising above almost everything else.
鈥淭his became my complete obsession, and it almost took over my relationship with my girlfriend and my relationship with my education,鈥� Montesanti said. 鈥淚 had to really check myself to say, 鈥榃hat are the important things in my life and what matters,鈥� and really hone in on, 鈥極K, I鈥檓 here for an education. I鈥檓 here to be a partner to my girlfriend, who is now my wife. And roller derby comes down the list a little bit.鈥欌��
Supported through healing
After shattering her tibia and fibula, Montesanti was hospitalized for four days, and, thanks to a titanium rod, was able to start bearing weight after six weeks.
That healing journey was a pivotal time that showed her that despite the risk of injury, the derby team was not only her family but her home.
鈥淭hey stayed with me at the hospital,鈥� Montesanti said. 鈥淭hey created a meal train for me. So they were dropping off meals for me when I couldn鈥檛 do anything.鈥�
This love solidified that roller derby was the place Montesanti belonged. Her definition of home formed around the team.
鈥淭he support from my chosen family made me want to be a better member of the chosen family itself,鈥� Montesanti recounts. She paid it back by finding a way to help other injured players.
鈥淚 collected a bank of items after I healed myself, I collected wheelchairs and crutches and shower chairs and things that I didn鈥檛 know that I would even need to heal.鈥�
Montesanti not only created the community supply but also built a spreadsheet to track who she loaned things out to. Derby inspired her to be a better person, she said.
鈥淚t makes me want to reach out to people who look like they might be having a bad day,鈥� she added. 鈥淚t makes me want to say hi to people 鈥� it really makes me want to be one piece of a moving unit rather than a singular person.鈥�
All of this led Montesanti to write essays about roller derby and the passion she had for it. It helped her build and find a natural balance between school, her relationship and her roller derby career.
These essays culminated into Montesanti鈥檚 2022 book "," a title she took inspiration for from a phrase often said on the derby track, including, memorably, by a teammate who goes by Cruella Belleville.
鈥淪he said, 鈥榊ou really have to get low and brace for impact here, because you鈥檙e going to get hit hard.鈥� And I was just thinking how important of a line that is, both literally and metaphorically,鈥� Montesanti said.
Through all of the bumps, bruises and breaks, St. Louis Skatium and Arch Rival Derby have become a sacred space for Montesanti.
鈥淚 think my definition of home is where I have agency,鈥� Montesanti said. 鈥淎nd Arch Rival has given me the kind of agency that I haven鈥檛 had in a long time, and has given me the kind of empowerment that I haven鈥檛 experienced in a long time.鈥�
