Profile

About

I am a Mathematics Teacher and High Performance Badminton Coach with more than a decade of experience in athlete development, coaching education and with experience at Paralympic Games and international elite competition. My professional path combines two areas I am deeply passionate about: education and sport. Alongside my work as a mathematics teacher, I have built a career in high-performance badminton coaching, working with athletes from beginner level to international elite competition. From 2021 to 2024 I served as Head Coach of the Portuguese National Badminton and Para Badminton Team, leading athletes in major international competitions including the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. I have coached athletes ranked in the Top 10 of the Para Badminton World Ranking and contributed to historic results for Portuguese National teams in European and World competitions. In addition to performance coaching, I was actively involved in coach education, delivering coaching courses and professional development programmes for badminton coaches. My academic background includes a Master’s Degree in Mathematics Teaching from the University of Coimbra, and I strongly value the connection between analytical thinking, education and high-performance sport. My main interests include: • High performance sport and athlete development • Coach education and mentoring • Para sport and inclusive sport • Long-term athlete development pathways • Education through sport • International sport cooperation I am always interested in collaborating in international coaching, coach education, and sport and management development projects.

Coaching Philosophy

My coaching philosophy is centred on developing independent, intelligent and adaptable badminton players, while also helping them grow as people. I believe badminton should be learned through understanding, exploration and purposeful practice, rather than through the simple repetition of prescribed techniques. My role as a coach is not to provide all the answers, but to create the conditions in which players can discover solutions, understand why they work, and gradually take ownership of their own development. I see the game as the starting point for learning. Technical and physical skills are important, but they should be developed in connection with tactical understanding, decision-making and the demands of real situations. I therefore aim to create practices that are representative of the game, challenging players to perceive, decide, adapt and execute under pressure. I also believe that there is no single way to play badminton. Each player has different characteristics, experiences, strengths and needs. My coaching therefore seeks to provide clear principles and direction while allowing enough space for individuality, creativity and self-expression. A key part of my approach is developing players who think. I want athletes to become increasingly capable of analysing their own performance, recognising problems, generating solutions and evaluating their decisions. Questioning, reflection and meaningful feedback are therefore important parts of the coaching process. Ultimately, I see coaching as a process of progressively transferring responsibility from coach to player. My goal is not to make players dependent on me, but to give them the knowledge, skills, confidence and curiosity to continue learning without me. For me, successful coaching is therefore not only about producing better badminton players. It is about developing resilient, curious, self-aware and autonomous individuals who are capable of learning, adapting and performing in their own way.

Achievements

• Over 15 years of coaching experience including seven years with the Portuguese Badminton Federation leading Olympic and Para Badminton programmes through international and Paralympic cycles
• Coached athletes to European Championship medals
• Paralympic Top-5 finishes
• World Top 10 and Junior World Top 100 rankings
• record-breaking results at the 2023 World Junior Championships and U17 European Championships
• Experienced in athlete pathway development
• high-performance environments training camps
• coach education.