One of Rockhampton’s most consistent table tennis players, Gerard Watts, is calling time on his decorated career as a player as he transitions into semi-retirement to the Gold Coast. Watts has played regularly in local competitions for the past sixty years and can only recall having one season off due to an injury since starting playing the sport as a nine-year-old prior to the local club having its own playing centre that was built on Leichhardt Park in Campbell street and officially opened on 10 September 1965.
The good news for locals who like to oppose the defensive game he possesses, or to just have a chat about the sport, is that he is not totally departing the scene. Commitments with his family business will see him back in town on regular occasions and he intends to pay the club a visit when he could engage in a practice session and sub in top grade fixtures if a vacancy crops up when he is in Rocky. If he decides to play at the impressive Gold Coast club his old club-mates will be hoping he doesn’t pick up any new tricks.
Coming from table tennis playing family Watts’ father Viv was a long-term President of the local club and was at the helm around the time that the playing centre was planned and constructed. His older brother Paul was a very good player who represented the city and the state. His other brothers John and Peter also played locally through the grades and did very well but didn’t push for higher honours.
Keeping the family in the sport Watts met his wife Terri at the Rocky Association after she took up the game and that part is now history including the fact that on a number of occasions they both represented the city at regional and state carnivals at the same time. Their two sons took part in the city’s junior coaching program as youngsters but both went on to pursue other sporting interests when teenagers.
Watts is quite unique in that he played to a competitive level in his time as a junior and progressed through the ranks of regional and state representation at open level prior to the inevitable of reaching the veteran stage where he represented both the city and the state. He was crowned the city’s veteran singles and doubles champion on a number of occasions at the club’s annual closed championships and in earlier times was ‘the one to beat’ if people were seriously looking for a shot at those titles. Due to him representing the city at state titles he gained positions on the coveted state-rankings at various stages.
He took on some administrative responsibilities earlier in his playing career and completed a stint as president of the local association in 1984 as well as holding posts of state selector along the way. He was also on the Board of Management of Table Tennis Queensland for a few years and it’s always good to see quality players put something back into the sport in this manner.
As a gesture of the club’s appreciation to his input to the sport over such a prolonged period Watts was presented with a farewell gift at the club’s annual presentation night late in November where he accepted the position of guest of honour to present all the trophies, medals and awards for competitions during another successful year of his beloved Rockhampton Table Tennis Association.