Erika Figueiredo

Full Name: Erika Raquel de Oliveira Figueiredo, but since has moved to the US has gone by Erika Figueiredo.

I come from a family of athletes. My dad was a professional soccer player for 10 years of his life and that kind of helped my siblings and me to follow his path. I’m the second child of four, and we’re all volleyball players. My brother, Ademir, plays beach volleyball, so does my middle sister Bruna. My youngest sister, Dayse, is the only one who still plays indoor volleyball and she represented Brazil in the Pan-American Games in 2003, and played few South American Tournaments for Brazil as well, and recently renewed her contract for a professional indoor team in Brazil.

I’ve been playing volleyball my whole life, almost. I started to play volleyball when I was 10 back in Brazil in 1991. I received my first award for best player when I was 14, and that repeated over again for the next 5 years until I moved to Austin to go to Saint Edward’s University on a full scholarship. I’m a 2005 graduate of Saint Edward’s University in Austin, TX. I went on to complete my bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology.

During my 4 years as Saint Edward’s Volleyball player I was named 2001 Heartland Conference MVP, freshman of the year and Player of the Year, 2001 Southwest Region 1^st team, 2001 Southwest Region Freshman of the year; Dean Honorable Mention in 2002, 2002 Heartland Conference MVP and Player of the Year, 2002 Southwest Region 1^st team, 3 weeks in the row was named player of the week according to AVCA Division II coaches’ pool, 2002 AVCA Division II First-Team All-American Team; 2003 Heartland Conference MVP and Player of the Year, 2003 Southwest Region 1^st team,  2003 AVCA Division II Third-Team All-American Team; 2004 Heartland Conference MVP, 2004 Southwest Region 1^st Team which the above, were the most remarkable accomplishments during my college volleyball player career.

 My first experience coaching volleyball was in 2001 during Saint Edward’s University summer volleyball camps, and from that on I couldn’t stop coaching anymore. I’ve coached at St. Gabriel on their summer camps as well in 2005-2006; I’ve coached St. Stephen’s Episcopal School during their summer camps as well as the 6^th grade teams from 2005-2008; I had the opportunity to Assist Brian Wright and the AIM 16 from 2005-2006, also helping out on few summer camps as well.  And to finish off, I also have been part of Longhorn summer camp program from 2007-2008 camps. This is Erika's 2nd season with Austin Performance.

After Saint Edward’s, I went on to play professional beach volleyball, and got to play in numerous tournaments. I won my first beach volleyball tournament here in Austin, TX in 2005 and after that I just enjoyed the game more and more each day.   I got second on the big cash tournament in Corpus Christi in 2005; I got first place on South Padre Island Memorial Day weekend tournament from 2005- 2008; I won several tournaments throughout the summer of 2005-2008 at Yucatan Beach Club in Dallas; I won several tournaments throughout the summer of 2005-2008 at Third Coast Volleyball in Houston; I was 2006 3^rd place on first Annual Bud Light Texas Volleyball Championship Freedom Over Texas, and got 1^st place on the two following editions 2007-2008. I started going on tour at the AVP tour all over the US in 2006 as well as the Banco do Brasil Beach Volleyball Tour in Brazil, and still currently playing and competing.