John Willmott has hockey in his blood as he has been attending hockey matches for most weeks of his life since his birth and has regularly attended many festivals at home and abroad. He still plays veterans hockey for Southgate and summer hockey for Pistons. He has been President of both and has been a Chairman of several businesses over the years. He is a Trustee of Sportsaid’s Eastern Region and a recently retired Chair of a prep school.

John is married with five children and lives in Hungerford, Berkshire. He is from the fifth generation of a family run construction and property company and sat on the National Council of the Chartered Institute of Building. In addition and following his involvement as the Stadium Director for the 1986 Hockey Men's World Cup in London, he became an artificial turf pitch consultant. This was then followed by working as a volunteer at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul for GB Hockey and the British Olympic Association. He has worked on many of the elite hockey installations throughout the UK and for a variety of school and university sports facilities including making many grant aid applications. John was also appointed for the 2012 London Olympic Games hockey training facility at Chigwell which was replicated at Riverbank, Olympic Park.