The Game Changers

Layla Guscoth describes herself on social media as half netballer, half doctor. 

In 2016, Layla qualified as a doctor and somehow has managed to balance that career with being a professional netballer. 

Co-captain for the England side at the 2023 World Cup, Layla now has both Silver and Bronze World Cup medals. 

Layla's played for a number of Super League teams in the UK and Australia and captained both Mavericks and Thunderbirds. 

We explore how Layla has managed to balance two incredible careers, her pathway into elite netball and the women that influenced her progress, recognising her as a whole human, not just an exceptional athlete. 

As Layla shares her journey, including injuries, setbacks and time overseas, we consider what’s changed for netballers with increased professionalism, and what the future holds in terms of broadcast, investment and increasing media profile of the sport. 

Layla was incredibly open in discussing what a fully professional sport could look like in the future; what makes a great captain and is it time to think again about those netball dresses? 

It was a privilege to hear Layla reflect back on her extraordinary netball career. 

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

Suzy Wrack is a much-celebrated women’s football writer for The Guardian.

As an author, Suzy wrote the award-winning book 'A Woman's Game: The Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Women's Football', along with the leadership book 'You Have the Power' with England Women’s football captain Leah Williamson, and her new book 'Strong Women', which was published this month.

Suzy shares her journey into journalism and how her work at The Guardian enables her to combine her joint passions for social impact and sport.

We talk about Suzy’s investigation into the abuse of Afghanistan Women’s Football team, and she reflects on how un-regulated, self-governed sports can harbour abusers at many levels.

Generously sharing advice for those hoping for a career in sports media, Suzy is open about the realities of being a woman working in male dominated sector and how coverage of women’s football in print media is finally changing. That said, she also shares her disappointment that we’ve not seen more change following the Euros in 2022.

Thank you once again to our partners at Sport England who support The Game Changers with a National Lottery grant.

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

Professional boxer Caroline Dubois is Youth Olympic champion, World Youth champion, four-times European Youth champion, Team GB Olympian and now IBO lightweight Champion. 

A pioneering female athlete with a stellar professional record of 8 wins no defeats and 5 knock outs, Caroline is known for her immense power and her explosive punches.

Caroline talks openly about her recent IBO title and her ambitions to win more World Titles.

Sharing her experience of being a young athlete on the British Boxing pathway, we explore how she overcome disappointment from Tokyo 2020, why she gave up her dream of Olympic Gold to turn professional at just 19 and how she copes with feelings of regret.

We talk about the different between amateur and professional boxing as an athlete, the incredible growth in the visibility of professional women’s boxing and why she won’t be trying MMA anytime soon.

Caroline has witnessed huge changes for women in boxing from the days when she pretended to be a boy so that she could train in a boxing gym, but she believes there’s still much that need to change - primarily more respect for female fighters. 

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

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

Our guest in this episode is Ellie Simmonds, one of the world’s most celebrated Paralympians. A five-time Paralympic Champion and 14-time World Champion, Ellie shot to fame when she won her first Paralympic medals aged just 13, at the Beijing Paralympic Games. 

After two gold medals there in 2008, Ellie went even better at London 2012. As the poster girl for the home games, she won 4 medals, including two Golds, and broke a further two World records. This success in London helped make Ellie the most recognised Paralympic athlete in Great Britain, if not the world. Rio 2016 saw Ellie once again top of the podium, winning another Gold and setting a new world record in the Individual Medley. 

Ellie retired from the pool in 2021 after her fourth Paralympics Games in Tokyo, finishing her career with an incredible 5 Paralympic gold medals, 14 World titles, 10 European titles and countless World records broken along the way. 

Ellie continues to work with a variety of charities including the Dwarf Sports Association, WaterAid, the Scouts and I AM WATER.

In recent years it’s been fabulous to see Ellie’s work in the media. Along with making powerful documentaries, Ellie’s been a guest on some of the country’s most popular shows including Celebrity Googlebox, celebrity Masterchef – which she won – and her appearance on BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing last year which cemented her status as one of the nation’s most well-loved personalities.

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

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

The Game Changers podcast returns on Tuesday October 31 with eight more trailblazers in women’s sport exploring their careers and key issues around equality in sport and beyond.

The award-winning podcast is support by Sport England through a National Lottery Award and hosted by Sue Anstiss MBE.

The superb guest list for this latest series includes:

Caroline Wozniacki – A professional tennis player who was ranked world number one for 71 weeks at the height of her career, and who won the Australian Open, before retiring from the game in 2020 having been diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. In 2023, now mother to two small children, Caroline announced her surprise return to professional tennis.

Ellie Simmonds - one of the world’s most celebrated Paralympians with an incredible 5 Paralympic gold medals, 14 World titles, 10 European titles and countless World records. Ellie retired from the pool in 2021, but continues to be one of the nation’s most well-loved personalities and a regular on our TV screens. 

Caroline Dubois – A pioneering professional British boxer and Olympian, who won European, World and Olympic Youth titles, and is now IBO Lightweight Champion.

Layla Guscoth – an England netballer who incredibly combines this role with her career as a doctor. Having won silver and bronze World Cup medals, Layla’s captained her country along with teams in the Netball Super League and in Australia.

Suzy Wrack – A British journalist and much-celebrated women’s football writer for The Guardian, Suzy’s also the award-winning author of ‘A Woman's Game’ and does an incredible job driving social change through her coverage of women’s sport.

Jeanette Kwakye – former British sprinter, 5-time British Champion, Olympian and world indoor silver medallist, who’s gone on to become a much-respected sports broadcaster across the BBC, Sky and Channel 5. 

Juliet Slot – Chief Commercial Officer at Arsenal Football Club, and a non-exec Director of the British Olympic Association, with previous senior roles at Ascot Racecourse, London 2012, Fulham Football Club and adidas. Juliet’s passionate about gender equality in sport and is leading the way through her work at Arsenal. 

And

Hannah Mills - the most successful Olympic female sailor in history, Hannah went on to join Ben Ainslie’s SailGP team as its first female sailor, returning to the water just a few months after the birth of her baby Sienna. Hannah’s also a passionate advocate for positive impact around climate change. 

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The Game Changers is available for free across all podcast platforms, or you can listen directly from the Fearless Women website www.fearlesswomen.co.uk. 

This is also where you’ll find details of all the trailblazing guests featured in previous series – there are over 150 of them. You can also listen to the best-selling book ‘Game On: The Unstoppable Rise of Women’s Sport’ for free on the podcast. You’ll find the entire audio of the best-selling book in series 13.

The Fearless Women website is also where you can find out more about the Women’s Sport Collective, a free, inclusive community for all women working in sport. Help progress your leadership ambitions networking events, regional groups, webinars, mentoring schemes, LinkedIn Group, monthly newsletter, complimentary places at industry conferences and much, much more. It’s all completely free. 

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

Our guest in this special bonus episode is professional tennis player Caroline Wozniacki, ranked number one in the world at the height of her career.  

Caroline’s professional career took off at 15 when she joined the WTA Tour, and her meteoric rise saw her ranked world number one for 70 weeks.

Having won the Australian Open in 2018, Caroline was at the peak of her tennis career when she was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. 

Caroline retired from tennis in 2020 and then, much to the delight of tennis fans across the world, in 2023, now mother to two young children, she announced her surprise return to professional tennis.

It was such a privilege to talk to Caroline. We explore her phenomenal rise to world number one, and the impact of returning to that position again years later when she also won the Australian Open.

Caroline talks frankly about her Rheumatoid Arthritis – its diagnosis and how it impacts her life as an elite athlete. She also talks about her passion to help other women with the Advantage Hers* campaign. 

We explore the impact of her surprise return to professional tennis this year, the changes she’s seen and her plans for the future. 

As a mother returning to play her sport at the very highlight level Caroline Wozniacki is a huge inspiration to working mothers everywhere. 

 * The Advantage Hers campaign is supported and paid for by UCB. For more information visit www.advantagehers.co.uk”

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

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

To celebrate Katarina Johnson-Thompson’s incredible Heptathlon Gold Medal at the World Championships this weekend, we’re re-releasing this special episode of The Game Changers.

Now a two-time World Champion, Katarina Johnson-Thompson (KJT) has overcome many challenges during her extraordinary impressive athletics career which includes appearances at three Olympic Games. We’re so excited to see her compete again in Paris 2024.  

In this episode, Katarina talks about tackling anxiety and body issues, transforming her mental approach to the sport, learning to handle the pressure after lsoing the love of the sport and how she handled the internal conflict when her childhood role model, Jessica Ennis-Hill, became her biggest rival. 

Katarina also discusses the complicated preparations for the postponed Tokyo Olympics and being an ambassador of the Game On initiative, launched with Liverpool Football Club and Nike to help youngsters access sport in their local area.

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

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

To celebrate the Football World Cup, we’ve been re-releasing episodes of The Game Changers podcast with incredible trailblazing women in football.

Our final guest is Anita Asante. With 71 international caps under her belt, in a career spanning 14 years, Asante was a formidable England defender who played top club football for clubs including Aston Villa, Arsenal and Chelsea. Along with English clubs, and representing Team GB at the London 2012 Olympics, Asante played overseas in Saint Louis, Chicago, New Jersey and Washington, and also spent six seasons playing in Sweden.

We talk about Anita's incredible career and how the women's game has changed and Anita also shares her hopes for the inclusivity of the game, and how she's using her platform to speak up for the LGBTQ+ community and putting the onus back on the Governing Bodies to govern the politics and policies of the game.

You can find details over 150 trailblazers in women's sport on the Fearless Women website or listen to The Game Changers on all podcast channels.

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

Emma Hayes is Manager at Chelsea Women. In 2023 she led Chelsea to their sixth FA Women's Super League win, and once again Emma’s team won the FA Cup taking her winning tally to five .

It’s a fascinating conversation where Emma talks very openly about her life, her career and shares lots of advice for others hoping to be high level coaches in the future. 

Just to flag, there’s a little bit of occasional background noise of this podcast as the house next door to Emma’s had some building work going on while we spoke. It’s not too disturbing but just to let you know.

Massive thanks to Barclays for once again supporting this series of The Game Changers which focuses on fearless women in football, reinforcing Barclay’s huge commitment to the beautiful game.  

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

To celebrate the Football World Cup, we’re re-releasing episodes of The Game Changers podcast with incredible trailblazing women in football.

Gabby Logan is one of Britain's most influential women in sport.  A former international gymnast Gabby is now a household name presenting many of our most popular sports TV programmes including the Olympics, London Marathon, Match of the Day, World Athletics Championships and Sports Personality of the Year. 

Gabby talks openly about her career path from Sky to the BBC, and why she's so passionate about improving the coverage for women's sport.  

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