Gabe Montesanti learned to ‘Brace for Impact’ — and found life in the roller derby arena

Gabe Montesanti owes her career in roller derby to a random conversation. She and her girlfriend were sitting in a coffee shop near Toledo, Ohio, when another woman approached and suggested Montesanti looked like she could play roller derby. Montesanti was flattered, and when she moved to St. Louis for grad school not long after, she acted on the suggestion.

“The first day I had internet, I looked up St. Louis roller derby teams,” she recalled on Tuesday’s St. Louis on the Air.

That decision changed her life. Not only did Montesanti find a passion for the sport, but she also found true community on the city’s highly ranked Arch Rival Roller Derby team — and a terrific topic for a writer. Her new memoir, “Brace for Impact,” tells the story of how the sometimes brutal world of roller derby helped her come to terms with the trauma of her childhood and find a new way to live.