Racquetball can burn up to 700 calories in a session depending on the intensity of play and the size the person playing.
While the workout can be good and the sport fun for some, Harlingen’s Karina Quintanilla plays at the next level.
Not only does she compete, but she has the hardware to prove that she competes at a high level.
In late June, Quintanilla, who will be a junior at Harlingen South, competed in the USA Racquetball National Junior Olympic Championships in Stockton, California, alongside some of the nation’s top players.
However, Quintanilla didn’t shrink in the moment.
“There was a lot of pressure to play at a higher level than what I usually play at,” Quintanilla said. “The pressure didn’t have any effect on me once I stepped on the court.”
In fact, she rose to the occasion, capturing gold in the mixed doubles 16U division with partner Lukas Le, who hails from Dallas.
She also took home bronze in doubles action with partner Daniela Torres and a bronze in singles action, falling a win short from being named to the USA junior national team.
However, the outing was a satisfying one for her.
“All the hours in the gym and the hours of training all came together and it all worked out,” Quintanilla said. “It was exhilarating to go out there and win.”
Quintanilla trains at The Pit Strength & Conditioning with Vicente Rodea.
Competing nationally and at a high level wasn’t something Quintanilla planned. Just five years ago, the competitive Quintanilla joined father Guillermo Quintanilla at the gym and fell for the game almost instantly.
“My dad always took me with him to the gym and I would always just watch him play, but one day he gave me a racquet and I just started playing,” Karina explained. “It’s a fun game to play. There are a lot of health benefits and it’s competitive. I really love the speed of the game.”
Guillermo played for more than 20 years himself, but had no part in Karina falling in love with the game other than introducing it to her.
“I never told her to come play. She decided to come and play. She just took the racquet and started playing,” he said. “She had always been really athletic with good hand-eye coordination, but never played sports in school other than track. I knew she had the tools, but I never pushed her.”
At age 12 and with only a month of experience, Guillermo invited Karina to a competition in Corpus Christi. Karina accepted the invite, took first in her age group and that was the first time she wanted to train and play racquetball as more than a hobby or exercise.
“I had never thought about a future with racquetball, but after that I started to train more vigorously and improve my game so that I could play at the national level,” Karina explained.
At this point, Karina is ranked as the No. 8 female in the nation, but the rankings are not current with recent competitions.
Rankings aside, Karina wants to help highlight racquetball, a sport that is not as mainstream as other popular sports.
“I want to bring popularity to racquetball and maybe help it become a sport that is played in high schools.”