Fired Up Sport

This week on the Fired Up Sport podcast we hear from former Man City player Fran Brown on her groundbreaking football program Goals4Girls and how it's helped scores of young women, from mainly BAME backgrounds, gain confidence and find their voice both on and off the pitch. From a mixed race family herself Fran tells us how her own background helps her relate to the girls, why she thinks the government needs to focus more on inclusion in schools and about a life changing pep talk from Tennis legend Billie Jean King.

Dame Heather Rabbatts was not only the first woman but the first Black woman to sit of the Board of Director's at the Football Association in England and she has blazed a trail ever since. She recently founded the Women's Sports Group, Group, a media rights management company who are negotiating the new Women’s Super League broadcast deal, so who better to talk to about how the league can come back stronger following this season's early curtailment due to coronavirus. Plus, we hear from Lizette Cabrera, an up and coming Australian Tennis star who was about to break into the top 100 when the pandemic hit, Since lockdown, with no income from competing, she tells us she's been getting financial help from a government job keepers program, an insight into the flipside of tour life when you're not one of the superstars

Just a few weeks ago AFC Fylde's Women's team was disbanded, the decision blamed on the financial uncertainty the club had been thrown into because of coronavirus. But the team found their voice, they spoke to the media, including the Fired Up Sport podcast, and that made one hell of a difference. Coach Kim Turner returns to the podcast to update us. And we hear from Jorge Sanchez, a Canadian Football coach who tweeted  his support of Lewes FC's Marketing lead Charlie Dobres in last weeks podcast. Charlie was arguing the case for women's footballers to stop being compared to their male counterparts and seen as elite athletes in their own right. It's a battle Jorge has been fighting his entire career. As a University soccer coach he's trained players who've gone on to play for the national side. So, we thought we'd get him on to hear what that fight for equality felt like, one he's fought for decades, from a male point of view ?

This week on the Fired Up Sport podcast we ask why the monetary value of women's football isn't being embraced more widely with the marketing Director of Lewes Football club Charlie Dobres. Charlie believes there needs to be more ambition when we talk about how women's teams look on the other side of the current pandemic and we should start talking about women's teams "thriving" rather than "surviving". Plus the first ever Chief Women's Officer at Fifpro,the body that represents professional footballers worldwide, Amanda Vandervort.

This week on the Fired Up Sport podcast Women's sport has seen its first casualty due to the financial fall out from the coronavirus pandemic. AFC Fylde, who play in the third tier of women's football in the UK, have been disbanded. The chairman said it was due to the "ongoing fluid situation regarding the virus". The team were not only shell shocked but disappointed they weren't consulted about other ways of financing the team before the plug was pulled; they were told just fifteen minutes before the club released a statement to the press. We caught up with Assistant Manager Kimberley Turner and former team manager Luke Swindlehurst to get their reaction to the news and hear how they think women's football can future proof itself from further financial shocks.

As the lockdown weeks tick by sports stars the world over are stepping forward and using their clout to try and encourage us all to stay active and maintain public health. We are honoured on the Fired Up Sport podcast this week to have the company of a sporting great who's doing just that. Olympic Gold Medal winning Australian Beach Volleyball star Natalie Cook has launched the 30 second challenge and has roped in big sports names to help spread the word. Plus the former X Factor dancer who's taking a realistic approach to exercise in quarantine and starting with the basics; Do you slouch on the floor with your laptop ? Does your bum stick out when you walk ? Are your shoulders well and truly frozen after weeks of working from home ? Then you need Tig and Sam, the hilarious instagrammers and their hugely relatable, true-to-life posts and quick fixes for a more mobile, healthy life in lockdown. They are the StrongHer Women.

This week on the Fired Up Sport podcast how can we protect investment in women's sport on the other side of the current lockdown ? And why isn't women's sport, in the absence of any competitive sport right now, male or female, being given increased coverage in the print and broadcast media ? We hear from Isabelle Westbury, former cricketer turned sports journalist, who thinks she knows why and what needs to happen to change things. And as the weeks tick by in quarantine, we hear from Kate Dale, Campaign Lead for This Girl Can at Sport England. Kate tells us more about phase two of their  "Join the Movement" campaign #stayinworkout, which aims to inspire us to stay active during the lockdown in new and innovative ways.

This week on the Fired Up Sport podcast we catch up with Fed Cup Captain Anne Keothavong, the daughter of an immigrant and a refugee to the UK, her background was not one that meant she was destined to a career in the top flight of tennis. But thanks to her determination, and the sacrifice of her parents, that's exactly where she ended up. She now presides over the most diverse team in the history of the Fed Cup. She shares with us her ambition, not only for the team, but also for getting more women into coaching tennis at both grassroots and elite level. Plus how to stay motivated in lockdown with Professor of Psychology at Loughborough University in the UK, Ian Taylor. He also asks will we come out the other side of this period of confinement more empowered to make our own exercise choices and or still be slaves to the local gym ?

The lockdown that’s resulted from the Coronavirus pandemic has disrupted everyone’s lives, and that includes exercise regimes. This week on the Fired Up Sport podcast we hear from women who’ve come up with inventive ways of exercising from home, either with neighbours or family members. We have advice for fitness procrastinators and perfectionists, from University of Sheffield Psychology Professor Fuschia Sirois, and we’ll hear from the professional footballer, and friend of the Fired Up Sport podcast, Lewes FC Women’s Striker Katie Rood, who initially found it hard to get motivated to do anything at this difficult time.

It’s Reload time on the Fired Up Sport podcast. We’re giving you the chance to hear one of our most listened to podcasts from last year; the Great Period Cover-up. Why is there still such stigma around female athletes and periods? The monthly cycle has such a fundamental impact on athletic performance, so why is there so little research into its effects? On this podcast we hear from Commonwealth Games medal winner, track and field athlete, Jazmin Sawyers, who has spoken candidly about how her period almost prevented her from taking part in the  long jump final at the Rio Olympics. We also talk to Australian Tennis star Priscilla Hon about how she never used to feel comfortable talking about her period to male coaches. Plus Emma Ross, Head of Physiology at the English Institute of Sport, discusses the pioneering research she is doing to help female athletes turn their period into a super power . It's the Fired Up Sport podcast in association with Sport England and This Girl Can. Come with us and #ChangeTheConversation.