Table Tennis Victoria would like to congratulate Alois Rosario who was announced as the Southern Cross Trophies Coach of the Year at the 2021 Victorian Sport Awards which were held on Wednesday 15 June CENTRPIECE at Melbourne Park.

Para coach Alois Rosario was awarded the accolade ahead of a strong field of finalists including gymnastics coach John Hart, Melbourne Victory’s W-League coach Jeff Hopkins and Super W Melbourne Rebels coach Alana Thomas.  

Alois represented Australia as a table tennis player from 1986-1991 and worked in development for Table Tennis Victoria for close to two decades before joining the Para Coaching team in 2011.

Now the national Para Coach for Table Tennis Australia, Alois spearheaded the country’s Tokyo Paralympics campaign which brought home the highest number of medals ever for a campaign (two golds and four silvers) with one of his athletes, Qian Yang, named the 2021 Australian Para Player of the Year.

Upon receiving the award Alois was humbled by the recognition of his long standing contribution to table tennis.

“It’s really exciting to receive this award and it is great recognition for table tennis in general. It’s fantastic that these awards are able to shine a light on some of the smaller sports which don’t get the mainstream coverage of other sports,” said Alois.

“I’m very proud of the achievements of the team in Tokyo. The team was very exciting and we came away with everything falling into place with some great results. This award is excellent recognition of the team’s hard work.”

Alois credits his time working with Table Tennis Victoria (TTV) as being pivotal in getting him to where he is today as a coach.

“Working in sport development at TTV for 18 years gave me a great foundation in developing athletes of all background and abilities. It opened the door for opportunities like I now have with our para team.”

The next focus for Alois is the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham with a team of six para athletes, including four Victorians, who Alois says are a great chance to come away with some medals.

Also recognised as finalists at the Victorian Sport Awards were young gun Nicholas Lum in the Young Athlete of the Year category and TTV CEO Gen Dohrmann for the Volunteer of the Year award for her work as President of Women Sport Australia.

Further information about the awards and the winners can be found on the Vicsport website.