West Australian David Watts first represented Australia in 2008, when at the tender age of 16 he rowed in the Junior Australian Men’s Four at the 2008 Junior World Rowing Championships, finishing fourth in the A-Final. He returned to the junior team in 2010 and the young West Australian walked away with two bronze medals, including one from the inaugural Youth Olympic Games (in the Junior Men’s Pair with Matthew Cochran). Watts represented Australia at a Senior level for the first time in 2013 at World Rowing Cup 1 in Sydney, however his first senior medal came in 2015 when he was selected to join Cameron Girdlestone, Karsten Forsterling and Olympic gold medallist David Crawshay in the Men’s Quadruple Scull coached by Tasmanian John Driessen. The crew won a silver medal at the 2015 World Rowing Championships in Aiguebelette, France and also qualified the boat class for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. In 2016, Watts was named in the Men’s Double Scull alongside Chris Morgan. The duo competed at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, finishing seventh overall at the Olympic regatta. In 2017, Watts joined the Reinhold Batschi Men’s National Training Centre on a full-time training basis under the guidance of Men’s Head Coach, Ian Wright. Outside of rowing, Watts is an establish photographer and his work can be seen in a number of up and coming fashion and rowing magazines as well as on his own photography page. He is also a keen guitar player.
In 2017, Watts has been named in the Men’s Double Scull alongside Luke Letcher, for World Rowing Cups 2 and 3 and the World Rowing Championships. In 2018, Watts has been named in the Men’s Quadruple Scull for World Cups 2 and 3.