Ricardo Oliveira appointed National Head Coach (able-body)

Ricardo Oliveira appointed National Head Coach (able-body)

After a long and highly competitive recruitment process, Ricardo Oliveira has been appointed National Head Coach. 

As Portugal’s current Senior Head Coach and Director of the Portuguese High Performance Table Tennis Centre Ricardo belongs to the top echelon of international senior coaches. He brings a wealth of experience at the highest international level, working with established World Class players like Marcos Freitas, Joao Monteiro, Joao Geraldo, and Tiago Apolonia who achieved his highest WR position under Ricardo's guidance and coaching.

An architect by trade, Ricardo was instrumental in conceptualizing, planning and implementing the Portuguese High-Performance Centre from the stage of an idea to its completion. As a player, Ricardo represented Portugal at World and European Championships. 

TTA received a large number of very strong applications, many of them from highly qualified candidates from all around the world, but Ricardo’s stood out. “We are thrilled to welcome Ricardo on board the program. I believe that Ricardo will add tremendous value to the program, to our athletes’ development and more broadly to our efforts to establish the High-Performance support structures that our athletes need to pursue their ambitions”, commented Program Manager Jens Lang.

The Portuguese native will relocate from Portugal to Melbourne with his wife and three children. Being a family man above everything else, Ricardo’s personal values align very much with those of his new home Australia. “The commitment Ricardo and his family are making by relocating to Australia cannot be overestimated,” said Jens Lang.

Upon his appointment Ricardo commented: “I am very excited to join Table Tennis Australia and work with the current and future cohort of athletes which includes a perfect mix of promising talent and established and experienced professionals.”

Asked about his decision to take on the National Head Coach role Ricardo stated: “I am ready and keen to take on a new professional challenge. Me and my family look forward to the next chapter in our lives and to making Australia our new home.”

Ricardo will commence his work at the WTT Youth Contender event in Darwin, 28 Sep – 1 Oct before relocating to Melbourne mid-October.

Welcome on board, Ricardo!