By William Moncrieff, Communications Officer  

Growing up able bodied, John McClellend didn’t expect to have his life turned upside down at the age of 43 when he was diagnosed with chronic lung condition. His treatment and high dose of steroids damaged his bones, which resulted in John ending up in a wheelchair. In 2014, John turned to disability sport to help navigate this transition; adapt to his new way of life and meet new people.  

Today, aged 56, John finds himself devoting his time to ensure that others have access to the same opportunities. He said, “I really enjoy the volunteering side of it, as I get a lot out of sport, so it is good to give back.” 

Having volunteered in several sports across Dumfries and Galloway, John has seen people be impacted by all the benefits sport can provide and the joy that it brings. 

“I’ve been working with a young lady who is nonverbal and she has an amazing time in boccia and she is jumping about in her wheelchair. She is having a lot of fun, and that is enough for me,” said John.  

Along with being a key volunteer throughout the region, John has had an incredibly impressive career when competing, becoming a National Champion in Wheelchair Curling in 2024. A moment he looks back on with immense pride.  

“Yeah, it was really good. I had won the silver the year before, and the year before that. I won it just after Covid-19, so it was great to be up in that area of competition,” John said. 

Just like he has seen when he is out volunteering, John gained a lot of benefits through participating. One of the elements he most enjoyed though, was getting the competitive fires roaring, saying: “As an athlete I quite enjoy the competition side of it because I’ve got quite a competitive nature.” 

Following his successes on the curling rink, John was elected to Chair of the Scottish Wheelchair Curling Association. He has put his energies into growing the sport.  

“One of my big things, was to raise the profile and to get it out more. I got the local TV, ITV Borders, to come along and to do a few of the games,” John said. 

A recent volunteering highlight for John, was when he helped coach the Team UK in Wheelchair Curling at the Invictus Games in Canada. John helped train the team over the course of a year, passing on all the tricks of the trade. 

The work that John and all of the other coaches put in paid off, with the team delivering a fantastic performance, narrowly missing out on gold.  

He said: “It was really good. It was the first time it had ever been in the Invictus Games as it was the first winter sport hybrid games and to do it out in Canada in Vancouver last year was great. I felt really proud of the guys, for all of the work that they had put in. All of the training camps, they really did themselves proud.” 

He continued to say: “It was good to sit there and watch them [the team] grow, to see the smiles on their faces and just to see them generally come on.” 

As John continues to volunteer, he finds himself being impacted in many ways. Recently, he has found volunteering to be a great source of education: “It’s been good to give me a lot of knowledge of different types of disabilities, how people function with them and how they overcome barriers.” 

To ensure longevity of sport throughout the region, John has joined the board of Scottish Disability Sport’s Member Branch, Dumfries and Galloway Disability Sport. Here, he is keen to help reach as many people as possible, saying: “I enjoy it, where we are down here in Dumfries and Galloway, it can be one of these forgotten corners, so it’s just about getting the word out there that there are things out there for people to do and we do have a lot of things running here.” 

Having committed countless hours to volunteering, and seeing how sport impacts people daily, he would urge more individuals to try volunteering throughout their region. 

John said: “I would recommend volunteering to anybody; you will always get some sort of enjoyment from it. I’ve never met anybody who hasn’t got anything from it.”  

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