When Erika Manilla, the top women’s racquetball player in the U.S., takes the court in mixed doubles at the Pan American Games Santiago 2023 this month in Santiago, Chile, she’ll have only spent a few hours practicing with her partner. He lives in San Jose, California. She lives in Denver. Yet she has every belief that they can walk away with a gold medal — one of three she hopes to earn at the event.
Manilla has that confidence due to the close relationship she and her partner have. In fact, she’s known him her entire life. Adam Manilla, 28, is three years older than his sister, but both started the sport at the same time as kids, and it’s been an integral part of their lives ever since.
Now Adam is set to participate in his first-ever international competition and both Manillas are hyped to represent Team USA at the highest level of the sport.
“It has been a goal for us for a very long time,” Adam said. “It’s pretty special that we get to do it together. We’re super excited. This is a dream for both of us to do this.”
The Pan American Games begin Oct. 20 as a multi-sport, Olympics-like event for athletes from countries across the Americas. In addition to sports familiar to Olympics fans, the quadrennial event also features sports such as bowling, water skiing and racquetball that won’t be on the program at next summer’s Paris Games.
For athletes in those non-Olympic sports, the Pan Am Games take on added importance.
Erika is the only U.S. athlete to qualify in all three racquetball events — singles, doubles and mixed doubles. Erika and Adam won the right to represent Team USA in mixed doubles after winning the U.S. title earlier this year.
“We won against an incredible team, and it’s just honestly probably out of any win that I’ve ever had, that was my highlight,” Erika said. “I was winning alongside my brother, and now that we get to go to our Olympics — the Pan Am Games — and experience a world stage for the first time together. It’s everything.”
There’s nothing quite like playing the sport she loves with the person who knows her best, she said. When winning hinges on split-second decisions and instinctual movements, the close relationship they have is a massive advantage and means they don’t often need to physically play together to know each other’s tendencies.
More importantly, they can anticipate each other’s emotions. That, it turns out, is way more crucial to success than how they swing their racquet.
A game of racquetball moves quickly — men’s shots can travel around 160 mph — and often can be subjective based on the referee’s calls. How a player manages stress, anger, frustration, confidence and focus makes the difference between winning and losing.
“You can train with your partner, but a lot of it’s going to be knowing your partner’s tics, knowing what you have to do to keep their confidence up,” Erika said. “Once you get to a certain level, everyone has the skill to be there. Everyone is an incredible athlete, everyone can execute unreal shots that 98 percent of the population can’t, and so that last little bit is the mental aspect of it.
“(Adam) knows it before I even recognize that I’m flustered.”