4 WATTS OF POWER
Siblings to swim together in National Senior Games
Four siblings who swam together at North Allegheny High School decades ago are in training to reunite in the pool for the National Senior Games. This time around, Nick Watts, Mike Watts, Jean Rowan and Peggy Owen will compete as the Greater Pittsburgh Masters Watts team in the mixed 200-yard freestyle relay and mixed 200 medley relay events, as part of the 60+ age group. The games run from July 13-17 at University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool.
Held since 1987, the National Senior Games are a 20-sport, biennial competition for men and women 50 and older. Pittsburgh hosted the national competition once before in 2005. At state qualifying competitions the year before, athletes competing in individual swimming events become eligible for mixed relays. Each team has two men and two women.
Rowan, the team’s captain, said the idea was hatched after Nick, who lives in Arizona, and Owen, a Florida resident, visited her in McCandless last summer.
“We swam outside at North Park with a few other NA alumni and local Masters swimmers,” said the nearly 67-year-old Rowan. “We all decided to try and qualify for this year’s games.
“After that, my sibs and I were talking and we realized we could do a family relay if we could convince one of our other brothers to join us.”
Mike, nearly 65, lives in Shaler. He was tapped for the team after another brother who cares for the siblings’ father in Florida and another who travels were ruled out.
Since the team’s formation, its members have put in hours of training.
Rowan, a nurse practitioner in outpatient electrophysiology at UPMC, still finds time to swim four days a week. She takes part in dry-land exercises three
days a week as a member of the University of Pittsburgh Masters program and trains at the Oxford Athletic Club in Pine with friends.
In regard to the upcoming competition, Rowan hopes to swim at or close to the times she achieved last year.
“Since the event is in Pittsburgh, there will be many friends swimming,” she said. “This will be a fun event where we can cheer each other on.”
Nick, a 62-year-old commoditymanager who earned four gold medals in the Nevada Senior Games last fall, has been training three times a week.
His goals are to place in the top 10 in his age group and have fun.
“We’ve all been doing this for so long, we’ll be able to pick it up fast,” he said.
Mike, who retired from U.S. Steel’s information technology department two years ago, struggled at first, practicing twice a week with the Hampton Dolphins Masters Program.
“I could tell he had some formal training somewhere in his life, but he had no endurance base at all,” coach Laurie Berkow said. “Slowly, over a few weeks, he gained cardiovascular improvements and made some technique adjustments and is much more ready for the games than when he walked in.
“I was impressed he kept coming back even after cramping horribly and being exhausted.”
Mike joined up with North Hills Aquatics after the Hampton program ended and his coach there, Andrew Duff, was impressed by his attitude.
“Mike walked onto our pool deck ready to improve and work from day one,” Duff said, adding he does stroke technique drills each practice.
Mike said his goal is to have fun with his family.
Owen, 69, a widowed middle school speech/language pathologist, said it has been challenging finding practice time.
“I do have a pool in my backyard, so I still swim almost every day in the evenings,” she said. “I am not training like I should be. ... I get very tired after work.”
Her goals are to win a medal and “not die trying.”
The oldest of six children, Owen said she and her siblings have discussed forming a relay for a long time.
“I was excited for this opportunity,” she said. “We have always been very close.”
And the family has a long history in the water. Some of them began swimming in the Bahamas, where their father, Bill Watts, worked in management for U.S. Steel. The family moved to Pittsburgh in the late 1960s after he was transferred.
Bill and their mother, Gloria, who died in 2019, were instrumental in the founding of the North Allegheny High’s dominant girls swim team in the 1970s.
“In the meantime, we all swam for the Sewickley YMCA team every day, driving from Ingomar to Sewickley, no matter what the weather, and before there were goggles,” said Owen, noting she drove home with red, runny eyes every night.
For her family, the competition holds extra meaning.
“Dad always wanted one of us to go to the Olympics,” she said. “I hope this fulfills his dream enough.
“We are all pretty excited for this opportunity.”