There are not many teenagers who can say they have played in a World Cup final, but Dan McLellan is not content with stopping there.
The 15-year-old powerchair football star was part of the England squad that narrowly missed out on gold to France last year, as he continues to take the sport by storm.
Dan was selected for the England development squad in April 2023 but has enjoyed a meteoric rise through the talent pathway since then, becoming the youngest-ever player to represent England in a major tournament.
The Huntingdon native also clinched Champions Cup victory with his club Aspire and his talents have led to him being shortlisted in the top 10 for SportsAid’s prestigious One-to-Watch Award.
The annual Award, launched in 2006, recognises Britain’s brightest young sporting prospects and has previously been won by Olympic champions Tom Daley and Alex Yee and Paralympic gold medallist Hollie Arnold.
The top 10 athletes have been selected from around 1,000 rising stars, supported by SportsAid, across more than 60 different sports in 2024.
It’s another big moment for Dan but he is now determined to keep pushing onto even bigger heights and ticking off more milestones.
“I want to be the England captain and take England to win in the World Cup,” he said. “I think that would probably be my main ambition because it’s never been done before.
“Hopefully we can do it before I am old enough to even be in contention for captaincy, but I think if we could do it again and I was captain, I think that would make my life, so that’s been my main ambition.
“I don’t really see any need to do anything differently [to achieve that goal], just keep doing what I’m doing.
“I’m just going to keep working hard, keep putting in 110 percent, keep watching video footage, talking to the best players in the world, trying to see what they would do in certain situations, and I think that’s all you really can do.”
As the youngest player in the England set-up at just 15, his transition into the senior side has not been without personal challenges for Dan, understandably feeling the pressure around players so much older than himself.
However, Dan has vastly grown in confidence, fully aware that his presence in the side is justified by ability.
“Obviously I’ve always been one of the younger ones, no matter when I started playing, but over the years it’s probably become less of a problem,” he said.
“I think at first, when you’re really young, you feel really shy and feel like if I say anything in a team talk, no one’s going to respect me, stuff like that.
“I think now I’m quite comfortable around the older players and I think that I’ve sort of figured out that if you just do your talking on the pitch, then people will naturally respect you more, irrespective of age.”
Dan’s love for football does not stop at his own exploits, with the teenager a regular at London Road to watch his beloved Peterborough United.
“I just live and breathe football,” he added. “If there’s any form of football I can watch, I’ll stick it on and watch random games.
“I have a season ticket at my local EFL club, Peterborough. People might call that a bad choice, but I love to support them, and I try to go as much as I can when I’m not busy with my own football.
“Everything to do with me revolves around football. If I can get to any football game or just watch any football, that’ll be my first priority.
“I think if you don’t enjoy what you’re doing and you’re not passionate about the sport you’re playing, I don’t really see the point anymore, because you’ve got to know what your motivation is to actually play.
“If you don’t have that, then I don’t really know what’s going to get you through the sport and I don’t think it’s really worth it – you should probably find something else to do.
“That’s probably my main driving factor, how much I love it. The moment I lose that enjoyment is probably when I would stop playing.”
Dan has been provided with crucial financial support by SportsAid in 2024 – with the charity also offering personal development opportunities through workshops and visits.
The typical value of a SportsAid award is £1,000 with money generated through a combination of commercial partnerships, trust and charitable funds, and fundraising activities.
At a time stressful enough for Dan, in the midst of studying for his GCSEs, SportsAid has helped to ease the seismic financial burden that powerchair footballers have to contend with.
“The equipment of powerchair football is really expensive,” he said. “You’re looking at probably £12,000-13,000 for the chair to play and if you have it all made to measure for how you need it and what you need, that’s a lot of money.
“It takes quite a while to fundraise, so I think that’s maybe one of the barriers of getting into the sport.
“SportsAid is amazing. You never want to have to worry about the money that you need to get to games, that you need to play, get to training each week or buy the equipment.
“So having that extra support is obviously vital in meaning that when you go on the pitch or when you go out to train, you’re actually just focusing on that and you can perform at the best level without worrying about other factors.”
SportsAid’s annual One-to-Watch Award is being supported by Aldi – the charity’s Official Supermarket Partner. The winner of this year’s Award will be revealed in December with each of the top 10 receiving cash boosts and special in-person visits at their training environments to celebrate their achievements.
Featured Image Credit: The FA via Getty Images
