After graduating from Rincon High School, Martindell became the captain of Arizona’s basketball, softball and volleyball teams and was selected to the UA Sports Hall of Fame in 1996. She founded Tucson’s first women’s AAU basketball program and later became the head softball coach at Northern Colorado, taking UNC to a No. 2 finish nationally. She then became the head coach at Yale, and was later selected as the Ivy League Coach of the Year.