Monaro Panthers’ Daniel Watts is the Summerland Football Club Hero of the Month for April, after being nominated from within his club.
Daniel is something of an inspector gadget at Monaro, taking on a number of roles within one of the region’s fastest growing clubs.
He started out as Junior Coordinator, working with the Miniroos age groups and since then has dabbled in and currently undertakes a staggering amount of work to help Monaro tick over on weekends, and balances his volunteer work with his full-time job.
He is also an agent for apparel providers Masita, helping to liaise between them and the club and sort the Panthers’ playing kits as part of it.
And while he loves what he does, Daniel also admitted it gets a bit too much sometimes.
“It’s very easy to slow down, I quit and walk away about five times a week,” he laughed.
“But I love the sport, love the club and the people, so a few minutes later I’m straight back into it.
“There’s a lot to do but it’s so rewarding when you see the kids on the field. Particularly when I see my young boy out there, he loves it, he’d play five times a week if he could.”
Daniel still plays football himself, running out onto the pitch in Masters each week as just another aspect of his love for the game but says the most rewarding part of his involvement is at the youngest level of the game.
“The thing that makes it most rewarding is in Miniroos, when you see them at the end of the season and they’re handed a trophy; the look on their face you can tell it means the world to them.”
Between his roles as Treasurer, Vice-President, Grounds organisation, Merchandise, Equipment, being a single father and working, how much spare time does he have?
“None,” he laughed. “There’s no spare time! But we have a lot of good volunteers at Monaro who do a lot of good work and share it across the board.”
Daniel said that the Summerland Football Club Hero award was maybe not what he expected, but great recognition for the club.
“It’s good to have the club recognised,” he said.
“I was a bit embarrassed when I got the phone call. I still want to find out who nominated me and have words with them. Because there’s lots of people doing lots of work around the place, and for different people, whatever their input, it is still worth a lot and is still so valuable.”
Read about the March winner Kathryn Yuile here, or nominate someone for May now.