Ta­ble ten­nis stal­wart Joseph Mansano re­ceived a Ro­tary ho­n­our at the end of Feb­ru­ary 2021.

The Paul Har­ris Fel­low was be­stowed by the Ro­tary Club of Cen­tral Port-of-Spain (RC­C­POS) as part of its vo­ca­tion­al ser­vice ini­tia­tive to ho­n­our per­sons who have pro­vid­ed mer­i­to­ri­ous ser­vice.

Club pres­i­dent Neil Sel­man high­light­ed: “Joe’s self­less ser­vice over the past twen­ty years in the field of ta­ble ten­nis, and his con­tin­ued work with­in the Pat­na & Riv­er Es­tate Com­mu­ni­ty are well de­served of recog­ni­tion.  We opt­ed to present this gen­tle­man with a Paul Har­ris Fel­low as a way of say­ing thank you.

“The vo­ca­tion ser­vice dis­tinc­tion was cre­at­ed to recog­nise vo­ca­tion­al ex­cel­lence and to ho­n­our in­di­vid­u­als for sig­nif­i­cant ad­vance­ment in their vo­ca­tion­al field.  It is al­so de­signed to in­spire fur­ther en­thu­si­asm and to give added re­ward to ex­cep­tion­al achiev­ers.  We be­lieve that it al­so sets an ex­am­ple to oth­ers, par­tic­u­lar­ly youth, to strive for vo­ca­tion­al ex­cel­lence for the ben­e­fit of their dis­ci­pline and com­mu­ni­ties,” Sel­man ex­plained.

The event was sup­port­ed by the Pat­na/Riv­er Es­tate Com­mu­ni­ty Coun­cil.  Fer­di­nand McIn­tosh, Coun­cil pres­i­dent cel­e­brat­ed Joe’s con­tri­bu­tion: “Joe is from a breed of peo­ple past and present who seem to have com­mu­ni­ty ser­vice in their DNA. Com­mu­ni­ty Ser­vice is the blood that pumps

from the hearts of com­mit­ment to the body of our com­mu­ni­ty. Mr Mansano is the first of­fi­cer (of the Coun­cil) to re­ceive a PHF from a Ro­tary Club, and he con­tin­ues not on­ly to play ten­nis but al­so as­sist our chil­dren, youths and young adults in learn­ing the art of ta­ble ten­nis.”

Ann Marie Noel (past rep­re­sen­ta­tive of the Min­istry of Com­mu­ni­ty De­vel­op­ment) al­so of­fered words of praise.  “Dur­ing the past eigh­teen years work­ing with Com­mu­ni­ty De­vel­op­ment, I have known Mr Mansano. He is part and par­cel of the Pat­na Riv­er Es­tate Com­mu­ni­ty and Com­mu­ni­ty Coun­cil. He served in many po­si­tions in­clud­ing Wel­fare and Youth Of­fi­cer. What­ev­er of­fice Mr. Mansano holds, he is com­mit­ted. He per­forms his role with ex­cel­lence.”

Why was Mansano se­lect­ed? Here are just a few of the rea­sons.  He start­ed play­ing pro­fes­sion­al ta­ble ten­nis over 40 years ago in Eng­land.  Up­on his re­turn to Trinidad, he con­tin­ued par­tic­i­pat­ing in the sport, with clubs like the Wolves and the Taran­tu­la Ta­ble Ten­nis Clubs.

Mansano went on to vol­un­teer as um­pire, his­to­ri­an and  coach.  He formed two Ta­ble Ten­nis clubs to as­sist with the fur­ther train­ing and de­vel­op­ment of youths - Taran­tu­las in Pat­na and the Care­nage Blasters Ta­ble Ten­nis Club. And in 2009 Joe pre­pared and pre­sent­ed a DVD on the his­to­ry of Ta­ble Ten­nis from 1944 on­wards.

Joe still plays ta­ble ten­nis every Sun­day at the Com­mu­ni­ty Cen­tre.  He is a found­ing mem­ber who con­tin­ues to as­sist in man­ag­ing the Com­mu­ni­ty Cen­tre and deals with many of the venue’s plumb­ing is­sues. At 82, Mansano is the Coun­cil’s youth of­fi­cer.

Mansano thanked all speak­ers for their kind words and the Ro­tary Club for ho­n­our­ing him with such a pres­ti­gious award. His clos­ing re­marks were “I will con­tin­ue in my nor­mal way to give ser­vice above self, here and al­so all over the world. My vi­sion is that with ta­ble ten­nis, it teach­es you to live a prop­er and well co­or­di­nat­ed or or­gan­ised life, not on­ly as a youth but al­so in your old age. As one of my favourite Ca­lyp­so­ni­ans, Spar­row sang, age is just a num­ber; and as long as you have life and strength, faith in your­self and faith in God you can work won­ders.”