Frederick Medina came to Mallorca in search of an opportunity in the nautical world and in 2018 he found it at Pinmar as a yacht painter. After a year, he was transferred to the Pinmar Yacht Supply retail store in Palma so that he could continue his professional career with a focus on customer sales. Shortly after, in January 2020, tragedy struck when he was involved in a traffic accident that caused a serious spinal cord injury, radically changing his life.
After the initial operation that kept him in the ICU for almost a month, Frederick was transferred to the National Paraplegic Hospital in Toledo for several months of rehabilitation.
It was there that he first began to practice Parabadminton (Badminton in a wheelchair) as a form of rehabilitation. After he was discharged from the hospital and returned to Mallorca, he continued his interest in the sport by joining the Badminton Mallorca Club (www.badmintonmallorca.com) where he met with his main coach Rafael Abrines and began to compete at a professional level.
He first competed in November 2020 in the Spanish Championship with a borrowed chair that was not adapted to Parabadminton, so the results were not as expected:
“I had better expectations entering the tournament, however I played well with what I had. I didn’t think that the wheelchair would make such a difference, but quickly I realised that it is actually very important.”
Frederick did not give up however, and managed to raise enough money to buy a chair adapted to play Parabadminton. It proved to be a great success and after receiving the new chair he increased his training sessions as well as joining Club Badminton Calvià (www.badmintoncalvia.com) with Gabriel Villalonga as coach.
In April this year he competed in the National Parabadminton circuit held in Montilla in the ‘Inclusive Doubles’ category, together with his coach Rafael Abrines, finishing 3rd in the classification.
His next competition will be on June 5-6th in the Parabadminton National Championship of Spain where he will participate in the individual and doubles categories. He will be accompanied once again by his coach Rafael Abrines and wife Cristina Sanz.
Despite the accident that changed Frederick’s life, he never gave up and continues in the nautical world, having adapted the access to his boat so that he can continue sailing. Along with sports, sailing is another force that drives him daily to keep fighting and not to give up.
Here at Pinmar we are delighted to announce our sponsorship of Frederick’s Parabadminton career, so he will be able to continue attending all of the championships scheduled this next season and continue training in both clubs.
We wish Frederick and his team all the best in their 2021 competitive season!