John Sleath – From Loughborough to Rio

John Sleath has been volunteering in sport for many years and first got involved when he was a student at Loughborough University. Since then he has been involved in volunteering at both a local and national level.

Locally, John is the Secretary of Loughborough Badminton Club, a voluntary role that he has been doing for many years. He is also a regular community volunteer at a number of sporting events held at Loughborough University.

Nationally, John has been a 'Games Maker' at the London 2012 Olympic Games, a 'Clyde-sider' at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014 and a member of 'The Pack' at the 2015 Rugby World Cup. On 1st August 2016, he made the trip to Rio to volunteer at the 2016 Olympic Games.

John's highlight from being involved at the 2012 Games was seeing the forged Olympic Rings at the Opening Ceremony Dress Rehearsal and also the Pandemonium Drummers. He applied to be a volunteer in Rio as he wanted to repeat the amazing experience he had in London and to play a small part in another amazing Olympic Games.

John's volunteer role in Rio is as a Field of Play team member at the Badminton. Whist in Brazil, John is most looking forward to experiencing a new culture, seeing Christo Redemptor, the Sugar Loaf Mountain...plus watching all of the sporting action of course!

When asked about John's motivation for volunteering in sport his answer was "Just experiences that money simply cannot buy."