Christa Camarillo: From a Military Family to Sports and Medicine for the Mind, Body, and Soul

Sometimes it might mean following your dreams, which takes courage and a lot of commitment.

But sometimes, it might also mean letting go of the dream and seeking a deeper purpose.

Health coach and clinical exercise physiologist Christa Camarillo knew she wanted to play soccer. It didn’t matter that she grew up in a military family in Louisiana. Or that her hometown wasn’t the perfect place to nurture her soccer dreams.

In fact, thinking of playing up to the national or Olympics level she wanted to was stretching the dream too far. But she was willing to do whatever it took. And luckily, she had the talent and her parents’ support.

From earlier on in her life, playing soccer meant Christa had to make sacrifices. Throughout high school, she had to travel 90 miles away to Baton Rouge three times a week and on weekends to play for a traveling team. This paid off as it ledge to being recruited by the top teams in the country and signing with Powerhouse NC State.

Setbacks in Christa Camarillo’s Soccer Career

While still a freshman, Christa suffered a lower back injury and took the spring off to recover at home. She was more focused on recovery, and when her back started getting better, she decided to start her track sessions and headed off to the stadium one bright morning on March 11, 1993.

Just as she started doing warm-ups, a serial rapist ambushed and brutally attacked her for what seemed like hours before she managed to escape and called for help. The rapist was arrested and later locked up, but the scars remained.

Upon coming from the hospital, Christa Camarillo worked even harder to recover physically but was mentally numb. The only thing that mattered was returning to Raleigh, NC, to win the national title. She didn’t let the ordeal take away her burning desire to play. Instead, she channeled all her energy into being great and secured a starting position in her sophomore year.

She went on to compete in three NCAA college cups and spent a year living in Dallas, TX, playing for the semi-pro team Dallas Lightening. Later she had a brief stint with Chicago Cobras before returning home to New Orleans for grad school.

Christa had heard that the first women’s pro league would start in 2000 and decided to train in anticipation of the combines.

But before she could try out for the pro league, she was involved in an accident that changed her life. Someone driving while using his phone knocked her while she was riding her bike.

The accident caused her head fractures, ligament tears, and lacerations. Recovery was rough; it took months of physical, jaw, wound, and occupational therapy and counseling to get back.

New Lease of Life

However, determined to continue with her life, she limped into grad school, graduated as an outstanding student, and worked at a local hospital as an exercise physiologist rehabbing people with heart conditions.

Medicine would become her new calling. She felt at home, giving hope of a new lease of life to these people who had seen their lives almost leave them. She had been there. So it was great helping them mend their broken hearts and pick up their pieces. Christa Camarillo learned the skills of empathy and retraining, which were working positively with her patients.

Over the years, Christa has worked with health facilities to retrain patients recovering from heart conditions. Additionally, she has been running her fitness and wellness business, Retrain LLC, and coaching in academia and hospital settings.

“I assess people’s stressors and health conditions, then teach them to retrain, with movement as the medicine for the mind, body, and soul. To Retrain is to use movement and lifestyle change to look and feel better” Christa Camarillo talks of her purpose.

But Christa does not focus on patients alone. She also helps others to retrain their health, struggles with alcohol (she consults with Reframe, which is an alcohol reduction app), and their hearts. Her purpose is to help them live a meaningful and purposeful healthy life.