Versatile Morris takes place at top of table

MOST PEOPLE ARE happy to be referred to as a jack of all trades but the phrase has a  less than flattering qualifying clause stuck on the end ... "and master of none".
Northland sporting legend James Morris was recently labelled a jack of all trades by one of his  admirers, who then realised he may have delivered something of a slight and  quickly slipped in "and James has mastered them all" in a save worthy of a diplomat.
Morris's versatility has meant success has never been too far away.

 Most Northlanders will know him as one of New Zealand's top table tennis players but he has also succeeded as a coach and administrator in the game, as well as an outstanding farmer and a piper of some repute.
You may have heard him m-ceeing an event and been impressed with his oratory skills or seen one of his comedy routines with the Maromaku Players and enjoyed his sense of comic timing - there is a lot more to James Morris than meets the eye.
When Morris was 10, his father died in a boating accident and he had to grow up quickly when he was entrusted with many of his father's responsibilities, including milking the cows.

 The Morris family home at Marua was one of those vast, old fashioned homes with big rooms that could easily fit a table tennis table.
 Morris's mother was a former Northland champion and her son became  the young upstart at the Marua Table Tennis Club.
He progressed to  become Northland champion and by 1971 he made it into the New Zealand team as an 18-year-old travelling to the Commonwealth Championships in Singapore and the World Championships in Japan.
His playing career soared  and he took advantage of offers of coaching and playing in Asia to improve his technique - finally becoming national singles champion in 1976, when he beat Auckland Graham Lasson in five sets.
He won eight men's doubles titles, most of them with Hamilton's Richard Lee, as well as winning a mixed doubles title with another Northland table tennis legend Neti Traill. His second singles title followed in 1981 after years at the top of the game in New Zealand.
He was to travel extensively with the New Zealand team, gaining valuable international experience before finally realising he was coaching as much as he was playing.
In 1984, despite being ranked No2 in the country the previous year, he pulled out of playing for the national squad to concentrate on his coaching - a path that would eventually see him serving terms as the national coach and high performance director from 1996 to 2004.
But Morris  didn't forget about Northland players and spent a number of years as the Northland  coach while continuing his national duties.
He was known as an easygoing and approachable coach, who knew when to shift the attention of nervous players away from approaching fixtures.  At the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games his cows back home at Marua became a hot topic of conversation.
Morris would ring home every night to ask wife Christine - who was looking after the farm in his absence - how many of the cows had calved successfully and then relate the birthing statistics to the athletes over breakfast. Although he had to surrender to some good-natured ribbing,
 the tactic must have worked. The Games team were the most successful ever, winning five medals.

 As well as being a good coach, Morris displayed an aptitude for rolling up his sleeves and doing jobs that weren't officially his.
He instituted a rule as national coach that made training camps compulsory before the team left for international events - and then went out and found the money to fund them.
He was Table Tennis Northland president for 10 years and ended up on the national board for four years. During that time he led the organising committee for the Oceania Table Tennis Championships, an event  that put Whangarei on the international map.
He decided to retire from the NZTT board in 2003 but  made himself available for work with the Oceania Federation as one of the representatives on the International Table Tennis Federation.
Morris  became the second Northlander inducted to the NZTT Hall of Fame, after Traill, in 2005. He was also awarded the Northland Sportsman of the Year Title twice, in 1976 and 1981.
He may not always come up with what is expected of him but he always comes through. When he was asked to play the bagpipes at the recent 75th Table Tennis Jubilee Dinner, held in Whangarei, he declined but later brought down the house by playing the ukulele, proving he is, indeed, a master of many trades.