The Ottawa Sport Council is pleased to introduce Rick Watkins as our latest Community Sport Hero!
Rick has served as a volunteer track-and-field official for the Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club since 2007, taking on leadership roles and enabling opportunities for athletes to compete in settings from grassroots to high-performance.
First drawn in when his son was on the path to become one of Canada’s best high jumpers, the 82-year-old has maintained a tireless agenda of responsibilities long after his son’s retirement from sport and his own retirement from work.
“I can’t believe it’s been almost 20 years, but I love it. I always loved track and field, but it’s a real passion for me now,” Rick underlines. “What I love about it is the sport and the competition, yes, but it’s the kids, the athletes that are there.
“It’s so great to be around young people first of all instead of old people. I’m fairly active for my age and I just love being out there because you get to see all these kids out there working their butts off towards personal goals.”
Rick’s son Derek was the 2009 Canadian high jump champion and represented Canada on numerous occasions, clearing 2.20 metres at his best. But Rick feels most grateful that his son was able to get two university degrees, from Purdue and Windsor, which he credits largely to sport. Rick’s wife, a teacher, tutored their son and helped him with attention difficulties, but the alignment of the pathway in sport was a big part of what fuelled his motivation in school, Rick reflects.
Rick is happy to give back to the sport based on that experience, although he truly soaks up his time at the track.
“The Ottawa Lions, I’ve always been impressed with the coaches they’ve had and the volunteers too, but I just love being out there,” he smiles. “Terry Fox track is like my second home.”
Rick has also acted as a linchpin to help build an impressive network of officials who make it possible for Ottawa to host a wide array of competitions each year.
When Rick first began, the Lions had fewer than a half-dozen officials. Now there are usually 15 who come out for the average meet from a pool of nearly 50. Rick helps coordinate the crew, and he helps train new officials, like his now-friend Barclay Frost did years ago with him.
“There’s officiating, and then there’s being officious,” the past Ontario Official of the Year says of his message to developing officials. “To me, the difference is knowledge and judgment. It’s not always black and white a lot of the calls you make, and I always look at it from the athlete’s point of view first. Did we give them a good opportunity to perform their best?”
Among the events put on each year are the Wednesday night meets held throughout the summer. The Lions’ Twilight series allows all-comers to participate in a high-quality event, while elite athletes have the chance to set official world records or register performances to quality for international competitions.
“You’ve got kids that come out and they jump one metre, and then you get the guys that are doing two meters and 2.10s, and they come from all over, because Ottawa has a lot more Twilight-type meets than any other club in Toronto, Montreal, or wherever,” Rick highlights, while tipping his cap to head coach Richard Johnston and Lions staff for organizing the events.
Rick was part of nearly 30 events this season, including many over multiple days. The high school meets are usually two days, while June’s Canadian Track and Field Championships Presented By Bell ran for five full days.
Much like the athletes, Rick says the officials get up for big events like the nationals since that’s the time where officials can pursue higher levels of certification.
Although the prep work and long days can be very demanding, Rick says being involved in the nationals are among the most rewarding things he’s ever done.
He thought this year’s edition was “fantastic” as five local athletes claimed berths on Canada’s Commonwealth Games team, and he also scored several new recruits who were interested in becoming officials.
Rick was part of the Canadian Championships’ Local Organizing Committee as co-coordinator of officials alongside Lisa Ferdinand, who he says deserves a great deal of credit for helping to organize almost 100 officials for the nationals. LOC chair Ryan Rowat thanked all who made the meet possible in a heartfelt letter as well.
“The officials here are a great bunch,” Rick signals. “It’s fun to work with everyone. You meet people that you know are all in it for the same reason. I love it.”