Richard McAfee has been coaching table tennis for more than 30 years, and is currently certified by the USATT as an International Level Coach. He has produced national champions in each of the last three decades, including four world-ranked players and one Olympian in the 1990s.

McAfee initiated the Atlanta Junior Program in May of 1998. Currently, there are 16 children in the training program. They range in age from six to 18 years old. Team members have won titles in states from Ohio to Florida and recently took home several medals from the AAU Junior Olympics.

As a coach at clubs within the Southeastern Area in Tennessee and Florida, his efforts have lead to a greater interest and increased participation among their membership. Furthermore, McAfee coached during a recent USOC Paralympic Training Camp held in Warm Springs, Ga., and was the competition manager for table tennis at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.

In addition to his development work within the U.S., McAfee conducted two Olympic Solidarity Coaching Courses for the ITTF/IOC. Last summer he taught in Grenada, and this summer, in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. He is the only American-born coach to have been selected to teach these International Development Courses.

To assist in his teaching methods, McAfee invented a spin wheel to demonstrate to the students how to brush the surface of the ball to apply spin.

McAfee writes a regular coaching column, "McAfee’s Mechanics," for the USATT Table Tennis Magazine. He is 48 years old and resides in Atlanta, Ga., where he has lived since 1994.