JOHN Power described it as great to have his passion back for rugby league 27 years after suffering a life-changing injury in a match which left him wheelchair bound.
The 45-year-old from Grotton is back on the touchline helping coach his son Jordan’s Under-7 side at Waterhead Warriors.
“I remember things I did as a player and pass them on to the kids in training,” explained John who damaged his spinal chord on his debut for Oldham in an A team match at Dewsbury in 1985
John, who had also been training with Oldham’s first team at the time of the injury, is loving mentoring potential stars of tomorrow.
“We have a lot of talent and three or four are showing good potential. Hopefully I can use my knowledge to help them develop,” he said.
John became involved when Jordan joined the newbies who are now playing their first matches at U7s.
“It would be nice to be involved with them all the way through but, being in a wheelchair, I can only show them so much. That may mean I have to step aside at some stage,” he said.
John added the youngsters were fascinated by the wheelchair initially, some using it as a climbing frame, but now it is the norm, and they help him get in and out of his chair.
Father-of-three John admitted to having serious misgivings when Jordan initially wanted to play rugby.
“I was not too sure about it because of what happened to myself, but at the end of the day it was a freak accident and Jordan loves playing,” he explained.
John, who was raised in Thornham, began his playing days at Rochdale Mayfield in the same side as Paul Sculthorpe who went on to become a legend in the sport.
“I signed for Waterhead aged 14 and Paul went to Wigan St Judes,” he continued.
John was involved in a successful junior side with Warriors as Ian Sinfield and Steve Crowther also went on to play professionally.
Though the injury was life-changing, John, a senior software engineer for Fanatics who provide e-commerce to clients including Manchester City, United and Real Madrid, remains competitive.
The RFL Benevolent Fund helped John with things such as making adaptations to his home.
And as a thank you, he raised money for them by completing a marathon on a rowing machine in 5hrs 26min.
John was believed at the time to be the first wheelchair person to have done that and was given a place a place in the book of Guinness World Records.
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