The Game Changers

As we head into Wimbledon, LTA President Sandi Procter talks to Sue Anstiss about female representation at the very top of tennis, why volunteers are essential to running of the sport across the country and how Padel and Pickleball could be key to bringing more women to tennis. 

Sandi is President of the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) - and the most senior volunteer in British Tennis.

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award.

Find out more about The Game Changers podcast here: https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers

Hosted by Sue Anstiss
Produced by Sam Walker, What Goes On Media

A Fearless Women production

This week’s episode of The Game Changers features professional golfer and major champion Georgia Hall who talks to Sue Anstiss about winning the AIG Women’s Open with her dad as her caddy, the loneliness of playing on the LPGA Tour and why she doesn’t work with a sports psychologist. 

Georgia won the AIG Women’s Open in 2018 and now plays on the Ladies European Tour and the LPGA Tour. She’ll be taking part in her first Olympics this summer and will be aiming to win her second major championship at the AIG Women’s Open when it is played at the home of golf, St Andrews, in August.

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award.

Find out more about The Game Changers podcast here: https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers

Hosted by Sue Anstiss
Produced by Sam Walker, What Goes On Media

A Fearless Women production

Commonwealth Champion Weightlifter Emily Campbell talks to Sue Anstiss about the changing perception of strong women in society, her medal prospects at the Paris Olympics and inspiring female body confidence.

Emily shot to fame at the Tokyo Olympics, winning Britain’s first ever weightlifting medal before going on to win Gold at the Commonwealth Games the following year. Emily hopes to be back on the podium for Paris 2024.

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award.

Find out more about The Game Changers podcast here: https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers

Hosted by Sue Anstiss
Produced by Sam Walker, What Goes On Media

A Fearless Women production

Ahead of a huge summer for women’s sports, we’re back with the biggest-ever season of The Game Changers, launching across all podcast platforms on June 18. The ten episodes in this bumper season include Olympians, Paralympians, World Cup winners, European Champions, Presidents and CEOs.

It’s also the most diverse series ever in terms the sports featured with guests from athletics, cricket, climbing, diving, golf, ice skating, motor racing, rugby, tennis, triathlon and weightlifting.

Once again, we’re delighted to share that the series is supported by Sport England through a National Lottery Award with new episodes launching every Tuesday throughout the summer. 

The guests for this powerful series include 

Emily Campbell – who shot to fame at the Tokyo Olympics, winning Britain’s first weightlifting medal before going on to win Gold at the Commonwealth Games the following year. Emily hopes to be back on the podium for Paris 2024

Georgia Hall – the English professional golfer who won the Women’s British Open in 2018 and now plays on the Ladies European Tour and the LPGA Tour. She’ll be taking part in her first Olympics this summer  

Sandi Procter – President of the LTA the Lawn Tennis Association and the most senior Volunteer in British Tennis talks to us as we head towards Wimbledon 

Catie Munnings – one of Britain’s most successful racing talents, a rally driver, Red Bull sponsored athlete and TV presenter who now competes in Extreme E - - a radical, all electric off-road racing series in the most remote corners of the planet impacted by climate change.

Rhona Lloyd – Scottish Rugby International also playing for Great Britain on the Rugby 7’s circuit and hoping to head to Paris this summer with Team GB

Charlotte Edwards – the legendary former England Cricket Captain, World Cup and Ashes winner who was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame in 2022. Charlotte’s now a hugely successful coach leading teams in The Hundred, WPL and The Big Bash League 

Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix – the diving sensation who won Gold at the Commonwealth Games and European Championships last and will definitely one to watch at the Olympic Games this summer when she takes to the 10m board

Molly Thompson-Smith – a shining light in climbing who was ranked no. 1 in the world at just 16. With climbing returning to the Olympics for the second time in 2024, we’re hoping to Molly in action in Paris this summer

Tara Dillon – one of the most senior women working in the physical activity sector as the CEO of CIMSPA, the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity 

And

Stef Reid – the multi-talented Paralympian who competed for Canada and Great Britain, winning European, World and Paralympic medals in track and field. Now turning her hand to ice skating and triathlon.

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award.

Find out more about The Game Changers podcast here: https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers

Hosted by Sue Anstiss
Produced by Sam Walker, What Goes On Media

A Fearless Women production

As we look forward to Paris 2024, we're sharing this previous episode with Olympian  Dame Jess Ennis-Hill which was released on October 27, 2020.

In this episode, Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill explores her incredible journey from an enthusiastic young girl at a summer camp to becoming Olympic and three-time World Champion in Heptathlon. 

It was a privilege to talk to one of Britain’s greatest all-time athletes as she took us through her early days, remembering the excitement of school competitions and the challenge of balancing her sporting career with life as a young woman. 

Jess talks about the athlete-coach relationship that propelled her to winning ways, their contrasting personalities and communication styles, along with the patience required for long term success. 

Talking candidly about the physical and mental challenges of being a full-time athlete and a university student, Jess reflects on how a devastating injury before the Beijing Olympics became a turning point in her career and how sports psychology played a pivotal role in her recovery and continued success.

Jess shares her extraordinary career's emotional highs and lows, from the intense pressure of being the poster girl for London 2012 to the joy of winning her gold medal on ‘Super Saturday’. She also opens up about balancing motherhood with elite training, and the extraordinary motivation her son Reggie provided for her comeback at the Beijing World Championships. 

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award.

Find out more about The Game Changers podcast here: https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers

Hosted by Sue Anstiss
Produced by Sam Walker, What Goes On Media

A Fearless Women production

This episode was previously released on  May 10, 2022.

Orla Chennaoui is an extraordinary woman who has many talents including being a multilingual TV sports presenter. 

Having worked at Sky News and Sky Sports, Orla is now a Lead Presenter for Eurosport, working across cycling, MotoGP and the Olympics.

With her background in hard-news and investigations, Orla has always had an open and frank approach to sports reporting whether that’s in front of the camera or hosting podcasts and writing regular columns for Rouleur magazine and the Metro newspaper. 

Amongst her many accolades Orla’s also just been nominated as sports presenter of the year at the Sports Journalists Awards 2022. 

In this fascinating episode we explore Orla’s work as a broadcaster, including her move from news to sports presenting, the perception of female broadcasters and why it’s been so important that she retains her authentic style on screen. 

Ahead of a massive summer for women’s cycling with the Tour de France Femmes in July, we discuss the growth in coverage and whether cycling needs to be re-packaged to attract new audiences.  

Orla talks openly about why she stopped drinking, as she, and podcast host Sue Anstiss, celebrate the huge positives of living a life without alcohol.  

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award.

Find out more about The Game Changers podcast here: https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers

Hosted by Sue Anstiss
Produced by Sam Walker, What Goes On Media

A Fearless Women production

This episode of the Game Changers was previously released on June 15, 2021.

Dr Pippa Grange is a highly sought-after, influential sports psychologist and a culture coach working across elite sports and business internationally. 

In this episode, Pippa talks about family turmoil growing up, her formative years travelling and working in Australia, her first reaction to the job offer with England Football and the media spotlight she faced in the aftermath of the 2017 World Cup.

Within football, Pippa has worked to change the culture of a sport historically steeped in bravado and hyper-masculinity. She has recently written an incredible book, "Fear Less: How to Win at Life without Losing Yourself" to address fear, understanding the role it plays in your life and how to combat it.

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award.

Find out more about The Game Changers podcast here: https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers

Hosted by Sue Anstiss
Produced by Sam Walker, What Goes On Media

A Fearless Women production

In today’s special episode of The Game Changers podcast, we talk to two trailblazing women from Man City Women – Esme Morgan and Charlotte O’Neill.

Lioness Esme Morgan was a lifelong City fan who joined the club at under 15 level and quickly progressed through the regional talent squad into the Man City Women’s first team. 

She’s featured throughout all youth levels of the England national team set-up having first been called up to the under-17 England team in 2017. Esme won her first England senior cap in October 2022 and was included in the FIFA Women's World Cup squad in 2023.

Charlotte O’Neill, Managing Director of Man City Women, is a former England and Super League netballer who held key positions at British Swimming, the Olympic Games in Beijing and London, and the Rugby World Cup before joining Manchester City in 2015. 

As Director of Operations and Development, Charlotte oversaw strategic direction and delivery at Man City’s Boys’ Academy and was appointed Managing Director of Man City Women in December 2023.

The Man City Women’s story combines success on the pitch with continued progression off the field, as the club continues to break new boundaries, playing a significant role in the growth of the women’s game.  

It was fascinating to hear from these two incredible women as they openly shared their career stories and experiences at Man City as the club celebrates its 10th professional season in the WSL.

A big thank you to Nissan, a long-term partner of Man City Women across the past decade, for sponsoring this special episode.

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award.

Find out more about The Game Changers podcast here: https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers

Hosted by Sue Anstiss
Produced by Sam Walker, What Goes On Media

A Fearless Women production

This episode was previously released on November 15, 2022.

Rimla Akhtar, Wendy Taylor, Tess Howard and Holly Bradshaw join Sue Anstiss to consider the impact of sports kit for women and girls. 

There's been much talk about women's sports kit recently, from issues around Wimbledon whites, girls forced to wear skorts for PE and women not allowed to wear the hijab to play sport to extremes of female athletes objectified and sexualised with revealing clothing, high cut leotards & bikini bottoms.

This panel of game changers addresses some of the challenges and provides practical recommendations that will enable more choice for more women.

Our four game changing guests were: 

• Rimla Akhtar – former Chair of the Muslim Women’s Sport Foundation and the first Muslim woman to sit on the Football Association Council. Rimla was awarded an OBE for her contribution to equality and diversity in sport
• Wendy Taylor - Lead on girls work at the Youth Sport Trust including the hugely successful ‘Girls Active’ initiative which is delivered in partnership with This Girl Can and Women in Sport
• Tess Howard - a GB Hockey player who’s team won gold at the Commonwealth Games this summer. Tess is a real sports Kit activist, helping to change the guidelines to make sports policy more inclusive
• Holly Bradshaw – an Olympian who’s been very publicly outspoken about the challenges facing female track and field athletes.

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award.

Find out more about The Game Changers podcast here: https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers

Hosted by Sue Anstiss
Produced by Sam Walker, What Goes On Media

A Fearless Women production

This episode was previously released on April 14, 2020

Jacqui talks about her lifelong obsession with football, how she changed careers at 27 to re-train as a journalist and how lonely and isolated she felt after the hideous build up to her first appearance on BBC’s Match of The Day. 

Being the first female commentator on Match of the Day is how Jacqui is best known to many. She went on to present the show in 2015, and in 2016 was awarded an MBE for her services to broadcasting and diversity.  Jacqui presented the BBC’s flagship sports news show Sportsweek, hosted Euros and World Cups for BBC and ITV and now hosts football and darts for ITV. She recently became the first female host of Sky Sports Sunday Supplement show. 

It’s no wonder that in 2015 Jacqui was named as the 8th most influential woman in sport by the Independent.

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award.

Find out more about The Game Changers podcast here: https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers

Hosted by Sue Anstiss
Produced by Sam Walker, What Goes On Media

A Fearless Women production