This week we veer into the world of sports science, which has increasingly become the frontier battleground of professional sports. It’s a complex and vital area of sport and Dr Mike Posthumus, a respected voice in the field of sports science and a professional athlete himself, joins the Maverick Sports podcast to delve deeper. Heard of the 10,000 hour theory? Well, Mike tells us why it’s nonsense. Posthumus is the head of High Performance at the Sports Science Institute of South Africa and an honorary Senior Researcher in the department of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine at UCT.

Neil Manthorp has been the voice of South African cricket commentary for nearly 30 years and he’s covered almost every tour and match the Proteas have played since readmission to international cricket in 1991. He’s a respected journalist and media entrepreneur and the author of seven books…. six about cricket and cricketers and one about drinking beer. He is an avid runner and keen golfer with the slowest backswing in the amateur game. This week he joins the Maverick Sports Podcast to discuss the trials facing the game in South Africa, Faf du Plessis and his favourite Proteas’ moment.

Robbie Fleck played 31 Tests for the Springboks as an accomplished outside centre between 1999-2002 and he was also head coach of the Stormers for four seasons between 2016-2019. He was thrust into the Super Rugby coaching job when current England mentor Eddie Jones vacated the Stormers post after only 10 days, leaving Fleck to pick up the pieces. In today’s episode Fleck talks about the difficulties and challenges of that situation and how Western Province’s financial problems impacted on the team. He regales us with tales of the ‘Men in Black’, the talented 1999 Stormers team that came so close to winning Super Rugby and gives piercing insights into his 20 years in the game as a professional player, and coach.

Despite breaking his neck in an horrific scrumming incident that left him a quadriplegic when he was 17, this week’s Maverick Sports podcast guest Andy Barrow would not change anything. Barrow showed courage and determination to embrace his fate and become an inspirational captain of the England wheelchair rugby team that competed in three Paralympic Games, three World Championships, and five European Championships, where his team won three consecutive gold medals. Barrow is now a motivational speaker and world traveler, spreading his infectious zest for life to hundreds of people of all ages.

Tennis South Africa’s chief executive Richard Glover can’t pinpoint exactly where or when SA’s first tennis superstar might emerge, but he and his organisation are building foundations to make that to happen. The last 20 years have been among the best ever in professional tennis. Roger, Rafa and Novak on the men’s side have redefined the sport while Serena has done the same for the women’s game. Over the past few years new Tennis SA has slowly started to rebuild the grassroots program and bring sponsors into the game again. Money is vital to find and nurture talent in a sport than can be financially crippling for young players and their families. This week Glover explains what is happening in South African tennis.

Schalk Burger is one of South Africa’s greatest rugby players. Famous for his intensity and skill, he is a former World Player of the Year, captained the Springboks against the All Blacks at his beloved Newlands, won the Rugby World Cup at junior and senior level, picked up a European Cup and an English Premiership title with Saracens, and had an acclaimed career in Japanese club rugby. Nowadays he’s a full-time dad, part-time car renovator and occasional rugby analyst on SuperSport. He joins us to talk about rugby and life and to share some anecdotes about being at the top of his profession for 15 years.

There isn’t a person in cricket who has seen as much as today’s Maverick Sports podcast guest, but even by the wild standards of South African sport, the last two weeks in local cricket have been amongst the most dramatic ever. Not since the Hansie Cronje match-fixing scandal has South African cricket been in such a state of disarray. Ideally it should be in a state of introspection too, having lost an R80-million-a-year sponsorship from Standard Bank, having four board members resign, the CEO suspended pending a forensic audit as well as many other issues plaguing Cricket South Africa. Tony Irish, the outgoing CEO of the South African Cricketers’ Association (Saca) has been at the coal face of many of the goings on and he shares his insights and experiences to reveal the inner workings of professional cricket in South Africa.

He’s been part of two HSBC World Sevens Series winning Blitzbok teams, he’s won an Olympic bronze medal and he is South Africa’s all-time leading sevens try-scorer with 224 tries in just 203 World Series games. But Seabelo Senatla is more than a try machine. He’s an inspiration to many, a leader in the squad and now an entrepreneur, dabbling in wine. He is also determined to become a 15s Springbok, cement himself in the Stormers squad for the 2020 Super Rugby championship and win an Olympic Games gold medal with the Blitzboks in Tokyo 2020. This week the try-glutton and all-round nice guy of rugby, joins us on the Maverick Sports Podcast.

Gary Gold has been a professional coach since the turn of the century, working with English clubs such as London Irish, Newcastle Falcons, Bath and the Worcester Warriors. He spent four years as Springbok assistant coach when they rose to No 1 in the world in 2009 and he has also coached WP, the Sharks and Kobe Steelers in Japan. He is currently head coach of the USA national team, whom he led to Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan. He will be in charge of the USA Eagles through to RWC 2023 in France. There probably isn’t a coach in the world who has experienced such a wide variety of cultures in his career than today’s Maverick Sports podcast guest. In this episode, Gold shares insights into the potential of rugby in the USA and how the sport is in good hands with Rassie Erasmus as SARU’s director of rugby.

This week, on the Maverick Sports podcast, we sit down for part two of our conversation with former Proteas and India cricket coach Paddy Upton. He has written a fascinating account of his journey from cricket coach to leadership mentor titled, “the Barefoot Coach”. In this two-part podcast we talk about Upton’s journey from happy-go-lucky national team fitness coach in the 1990s, to a terrifying near-death experience on Cape Town’s unforgiving streets in the early 2000s, which played a crucial part in his own personal growth. Paddy mines deeper into the concept of success and what it really means, as well as the notions of continual learning and personal mastery. Upton is motivational, inspirational and aspirational as he gives us a glimpse into the mental side of sport, business and life itself.