CHECKING IN WITH ... TAINA QUIÑONES
(Editor's note: The Day will be publishing a profile of a spring athlete for each day the high school athletic season is suspended.)
School: St. Bernard School Class: Senior Sport: Softball Position: First base/center field College choice: Worcester Polytechnic Institute Chosen major: Biomedical engineering
Favorite sport besides softball: Indoor track (to participate), basketball or Olympic gymnastics (to watch)
Athlete you grew up admiring: Jennie Finch (former All-American and Olympic gold medalist in softball). When I was little, I always wanted to play baseball with the boys, but when my dad suggested that I try out softball for one year, my 8-year old self took that as a huge blow to my ego. Then when I read Jennie Finch's book, “Throw Like a Girl: How to Dream Big & Believe,” softball became my life.
Checking in with Taina: "Academics have always been important to me because my mom is a teacher. I saw all of the hard work that she put into making her lessons for her students . ... Learning had always come easier to me, especially because I had a built-in teacher at home, but I also applied myself because I love learning new things."
What you need to know about Taina: Quiñones went to middle school at ISAAC in New London, receiving an academic scholarship to attend St. Bernard, and hasn't wasted a single moment of her high school career. She plays soccer, ran on three place-winning relay teams at the Class S state championship indoor track meet and was readying for a softball season in which she would use that speed on the base paths. Quiñones also was chosen to sing at the All New England Choir Festival as a sophomore and is a founding member of St. Bernard's a cappella group. "My mom always teases me about the times when I was really little and would pretend to be an opera singer," she said. The most memorable moment of her softball career was a game-winning catch she made during a championship game for her travel ball team. "All I could feel was my heart beating out of my chest and the ball in my glove," she said. Quiñones' purpose in pursuing a biomedical engineering degree is in hopes of manufacturing and enhancing the technology of protheses/orthoses, inspired by a young girl in a wheelchair she met at a summer camp whose life was changed as she learned to walk. Quiñones loves gardening and lists "The Sandlot" as the movie she can recite wordfor-word. Said Quiñones: "As far as what I'd like to say to my softball team, I'd say to always cherish every single game, because you never know when it will be your last. Let your love for the game flourish."