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NEW USAPA BOARD MEMBERS
T
he USAPA recently added four new
Board Members to the organization—Bob
Franceschelli, Suzanne Guerin, Joe Santoro
and Ernie Medina Jr. All four will be
profiled in upcoming issues. We first welcome Ernie
Medina, Jr.
Ernie Medina, Jr. Biography
As a kid, Ernie Medina, Jr., was always involved
with racquet sports. Maxing out at a lofty height of
5 ft. 6 in., he was always shorter than most of his
peers, so popular sports like basketball and volleyball
didn’t suit him, but with parents who were tennis
players, he started playing tennis at an early age, and
table tennis even earlier. In the mid-1980s while in
college, he worked as a teacher’s assistant for Laura
Fenton Kovanda, and added racquetball to his list of
racquet sports he loved to play. When his mom, Loida,
introduced him to pickleball in April 2016, it was love
at first dink.
Pickleball fits in nicely with Ernie’s professional
career as well. He studied health science, health
promotion, and lifestyle behavior change at Andrews
University (undergrad) and Loma Linda University
(LLU) where he earned his master’s and doctorate
degrees in health promotion and preventive care.
After graduating in 1993, Ernie worked for 21 years
at Beaver Medical Group working with patients who,
because of certain lifestyle-related diseases, needed
to change their habits, especially in physical activity,
nutrition, stress management, and smoking cessation.
Ernie was always organizing various physical activity
events for his patients, such as hiking, bicycle riding
and yearly physical activity challenges.
In 2015, Ernie went back to LLU and joined the
faculty of the School of Public Health, where he
now helps to train and educate the next generation
of public health specialists. His research interest
is physical activity and is currently part of the first
dissertation on pickleball. Ernie is also known as the
“Pickleball Evangelist” and is using pickleball to impact
health. With his position at Loma Linda University, he
teaches pickleball as part of a summer day camp for
overweight kids called “Operation Fit.”
Ernie does take time to play pickleball, and now that
he has aged up into the 55+ category, he’s looking to
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play more senior tournaments such as the Huntsman
Games and SSIPA tournaments. This tireless dynamo
also organizes and runs several tournaments,
including the Halo Halo Cup, LLU Homecoming
Pickleball Tournament, and Loma Linda Pickleball
Club’s winter and spring tournaments. While he enjoys
coordinating tournaments, his first love is playing with
and teaching newbies and creating more “pickleball
addicts.” Plus, Ernie has been a USAPA Ambassador
since 2016 for his Loma Linda community.
When he looks back on the last four years, he’s
amazed to see how pickleball has impacted both his
personal and professional lives. And while his wife
and daughter don’t play (they stick with running
and mountain biking), his three siblings play, as well
as a growing number of extended family members.
One of his goals for 2020 is to get his 82-year-
old mom qualified and entered into the National
Championships. And, while his late dad Ernesto Sr.,
who taught him tennis and table tennis, never had
a chance to play pickleball due to a stroke 15 years
before his mom was introduced to the game, Ernie
looks forward to the day he will meet his dad again and
challenge him to a game of pickleball.
Look for Suzanne’s, Joe’s and Bob’s biographies in
future issues of Pickleball Magazine. •