On our weekly news magazine show Chris Stafford is joined by Nancy Gillen from Inside the Games who has the top stories from around the world of women’s sport. Earlier this week, Chris spoke to US Bobsled's three-time Olympian - the only woman to win back to back gold medals and a three-time World Champion, Kaillie Humphries who had just completed the US National Trials and made the squad for the 2022 Olympic Games. She is now in the process of making the cut to compete at next year's World Championships and the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.  If you’ve been following the sport, you will know that prior to the 2018-19 season, Kaillie bravely came forward about the harassment she faced from the governing body of professional Canadian bobsledding. She filed a lawsuit to be released from Canada’s national team in September, 2019 and joined Team USA. Like many female athletes in recent years, Kaillie risked her career to stand up publicly against a sports’ governing body. As one of Canada’s most decorated athletes of all time, she made the difficult personal and professional choice to leave her home country.
Top international news this week: 
Firsts in American sport
Kendall Coyne Schofield joins Blackhawks as organization's first-ever female development coach
Former Cal women’s soccer players accuse coach of bullying, intimidation
Shiffrin Fifth in Levi Slalom; Moltzan and Lapanja Score Points
Maternity rights in football
Maternity rights in triathlon
FIFA Best Awards
FIS Alpine Ski World Cup and Shiffrin comeback
Female Athlete of the Year
Shayna Jack Accepts Verdict
2021 Rugby World Cup Draw
Duration: 40 mins
For more information, links and resources plus conversations from the world of women’s sport including articles, blogs, videos and podcasts visit wispsports.com. WiSP Sports is the World’s First and Only Podcast Network for Women’s Sport with more than 60 hosts, 1300+ episodes across 50 shows and over 7 million downloads. WiSP Sports is on all major podcast players. Follow WiSP Sports on social media @WiSPsports. Contact us at [email protected].

Olympic gold medalist Laura Wilkinson, ‘The Comeback Queen’, join Pam and Sarah this week to share her inspirational story. Laura competed for the USA at the Sydney, Athens and Beijing Olympic Games, retiring at age 30 to start a family. When the world had watched the best of pro diving, Laura announced her comeback, making a bid for the 2020 (now 2021) Olympics in Tokyo. Since Beijing, Laura has expanded her family, adding four children into the Wilkinson tribe; two of whom were adopted. 
Laura grew up inspired to one day go to the Olympics. She recalls watching the famous gold medal win for Mary Lou Retton at the 1984 Olympics and quickly fell in love with the sport of gymnastics. By the time she was 13, Laura realized that this sport was not going to be the one that took her to the Olympic Games and decided to find another sport. This is when she discovered diving.
A rising star in the sport within two years she had won senior nationals. Even after decades in the sport she still gets nervous jumping in the pool the regular way but somehow diving in headfirst does not rattle her. Laura’s career highlight was her epic rise to Olympic glory, winning gold in the 10 meter board at the Sydney Olympics, having broken her foot that season and getting her cast off less than three weeks prior to the Olympic trials. The mental training and visualization work was her secret weapon, as she was forced to build up the mental resiliency she would need to climb from eighth in the final to first.  So that is exactly what Laura did…and it worked.
We hear about her adoption of two children, her two pregnancies, the ups and downs through her second pregnancy and how her perspective has changed now competing as an athlete with a large, young family.
The major takeaways from the interview:
-   sport is 90% mental, but no one trains 90% on their mental ability;
we are not superwoman, even though we wish we were;
let your kids hold you accountable.
Laura also hosts her own podcast—The Pursuit of Gold—where she hosts variety of guests from Olympic medallists to coaches and sports journalists. If you enjoyed this episode, you will love Laura’s podcast.
Hosts: Sarah Newberry Moore & Pam Relph Jones
Podcast length: 54 mins
Music: Paredes Invisibles by Paula van Hissenhoven
Subscribe to WiSP Sports or WiSP Sports Mum's the Word on your podcast app.
For more information, links and resources plus conversations from the world of women’s sport including articles, blogs, videos and podcasts visit wispsports.com. WiSP Sports is the World’s First and Only Podcast Network for Women’s Sport with more than 60 hosts, 1300+ episodes across 50 shows and over 7 million plays and downloads. WiSP Sports is on all major podcast players. Follow WiSP Sports on social media @WiSPsports. Write to us at [email protected].

On this week’s episode of Sound Bites, Functional Medicine Practitioner, Dr Kirstin Lauritzen, covers our next nutrient highlight: Vitamin B2, also known as riboflavin, may not be an essential vitamin directly related to sports, but it is necessary for many processes in the body. If you have migraines, chronic headaches, or if you are curious to learn more about how important your digestive tract is in the absorption of vitamins and minerals, make sure to tune in to this episode. Dr K discusses the importance of vitamins and minerals as the foundation to your health and performance. She also ties the importance of Vitamin B2 into previous episodes where we talked about Vitamin B6 and Iron. We hope you find this helpful.
Duration: 18 mins
For more information, links and resources plus conversations from the world of women’s sport including articles, blogs, videos and podcasts visit wispsports.com. WiSP Sports is the World’s First and Only Podcast Network for Women’s Sport with more than 60 hosts, 1300+ episodes across 50 shows and over 7 million downloads. WiSP Sports is on all major podcast players. Follow WiSP Sports on social media @WiSPsports. Contact us at [email protected].
 

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/women-unscripted--4769409/support.

On this week’s episode, Nicole  talks to three advocates, scholars, collaborators, colleagues and #disruptHERS — Dr. Nancy Lough, Dr. Ann Pegoraro and Dr. Katie Lebel — about recent disruptions in sport, as they relate to women and politics. The women talk about how the recent U.S. elections intersect with women in leadership, how the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) athlete’s activism continues to disrupt opportunities in merchandise and sponsorship, challenging sport as a unifier narrative, and the importance of the increased visibility of female athletes.
Host: Dr. Nicole LaVoi
Podcast length: 29 mins
A co-production with the Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sport.
For more information, links and resources plus conversations from the world of women’s sport including articles, blogs, videos and podcasts visit wispsports.com. WiSP Sports is the World’s First and Only Podcast Network for Women’s Sport with more than 60 hosts, 1300+ episodes across 50 shows and over 7 million downloads. WiSP Sports is on all major podcast players. Follow WiSP Sports on social media @WiSPsports. Contact us at [email protected].

On our weekly news magazine show Chris Stafford is joined by Nancy Gillen from Inside the Games who has the top stories from around the world of women’s sport. This week’s guest is Carly Harper, host of The Lovely Biertrix podcast and Roller Derby announcer. Carly explains how the Covid pandemic has brought the sport to a standstill and how it’s surviving around the world. We also hear how it plans to bring the sport back for players and spectators alike.
This week’s top international news stories:
Semenya World Athletics Due to Dispute
FIFA Age Group Tournaments Cancelled
CAS Halves Shayna Jack Doping Ban
Kim Returns to US Snowboard team
UK Sport Paris 2024 Coach Program
Boxer Katie Taylor Win
South Africa Win COSAFA Title
Olympic Oath Minuzzo Dies
Commonwealth Games Qualification Process Announced for Cricket
South African sport under scrutiny over handling of child sexual abuse claims
Duration: 60 mins
For more information, links and resources plus conversations from the world of women’s sport including articles, blogs, videos and podcasts visit wispsports.com. WiSP Sports is the World’s First and Only Podcast Network for Women’s Sport with more than 60 hosts, 1300+ episodes across 50 shows and over 7 million downloads. WiSP Sports is on all major podcast players. Follow WiSP Sports on social media @WiSPsports. Contact us at [email protected].

This week’s guest is one that Pam and Sarah have been looking forward to for a while. Jessica Phoenix is a top-ranked Canadian Eventer and member of the Canadian Eventing team, representing Canada at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic Games as well as three World Equestrian Games and four Pan American Games. 
Jess grew up riding horses, started jumping at the age of ten and has never looked back. She tells us about the time she was preparing to travel to the UK with her horses for some international competitions when she found out she was pregnant for the first time. After gathering some advise from her doctor, she felt confident that she could continue to train right through her pregnancy, and did so with ease. She was keen to share with our listeners that we should not see pregnancy as an illness and so long as you are safe and receive guidance from health professionals, not to be deterred from exercising whilst pregnant. 
Even though she had initially not seen herself having children, she now knows it was the best thing to ever happen to her and believes it actually enabled her to step up her game. Jess feels that with kids you have to be so much more efficient and focussed when you are at training, a skill that she takes around the world when she competes. 
Of course, in a sport like eventing there are a lot of expenses and Jess felt some concern about her continued support from sponsors. (This is a topic in and of itself which will be covered on future episodes in more detail.) 
Living in Ontario, Canada and traveling to Florida to train and compete for up to four months of the year, it takes a bit of a balancing for her family to manage but with the right support system, Jess has made history competing for Canada and is training towards the Tokyo 2021 Olympic games.
A short trip into Jess’s birth story left our hosts holding back the laughter as it was definitely one of the funnier—though surely not at the time—birth stories on the show so far. 
Hosts: Sarah Newberry Moore & Pam Relph Jones
Podcast length: 46 mins
Subscribe to WiSP Sports or WiSP Sports Mum's the Word on your podcast app.
For more information, links and resources plus conversations from the world of women’s sport including articles, blogs, videos and podcasts visit wispsports.com. WiSP Sports is the World’s First and Only Podcast Network for Women’s Sport with more than 60 hosts, 1300+ episodes across 50 shows and over 7 million plays and downloads. WiSP Sports is on all major podcast players. Follow WiSP Sports on social media @WiSPsports. Write to us at [email protected].

Missy Marlowe became a Junior National Team member in gymnastics at the  age of 15 going on to become an Olympian and NCAA National Champion. As the first ever gymnast to win the Honda Cup Missy takes us through her journey of training and competing in her youth, to owning her gym and becoming a personal trainer.  She shares the benefits she had in opening up her eyes to  a world view in travel when she did not make the “A” team.  Missy also speaks to the gymnastics training environment that led to the abuse of athletes; mentally, physically, emotionally and sexually, and is proud that gymnastics has opened a door to meaningful conversations encouraging athletes to speak out. Missy describes the unique parts of gymnastics where the training and the competition is high risk but the reward and feelings of being in the air is exhilarating. She compares and contrasts her Olympic and collegiate experiences.  Missy also shares advice to parents of gymnasts and other sports from her perspective of having been a daughter and now having a daughter who compete in sport. The lessons Missy learned included a strong work ethic, facing one’s fears, building resilience and pursuing goals.  Fundamentally, she loves the sport and being in the gym and hopes all children get a chance to participate at some level in sports not least of all because of the lessons it teaches us.
Host: Chris Voelz.
Podcast length: 37 mins.
A co-production with Collegiate Women's Sports Awards (CWSA)
For more information, links and resources plus conversations from the world of women’s sport including articles, blogs, videos and podcasts visit wispsports.com. WiSP Sports is the World’s First and Only Podcast Network for Women’s Sport with more than 60 hosts, 1300+ episodes across 50 shows and over 7 million downloads. WiSP Sports is on all major podcast players. Follow WiSP Sports on social media @WiSPsports. Contact us at [email protected].

This week’s guest is Tiffany Melius, a competitive Australian rock climber currently based in North Vancouver, Canada. Having climbed for more than 20 years, Tiffany has clocked up over 10,000 hours climbing and competed in no less than 100 competitions. In 2016, she became the Australian Women’s Bouldering Champion and in 2017 claimed the title of Oceania Continental Climbing Champion. At the Tokyo 2021 Games, sport climbing will be included for the first time, with spots for one male and one female to qualify from Oceania. Alas just recently Tiffany has made the difficult decision to pull out of the Olympics. In addition to her rock climbing commitments she is also the Executive Director of the New View Mental Health Society and the founder of Force of Nature Coaching. Tiffany was incredibly generous with sharing her stories of navigating the rocky world of climbing, putting all of her energies into qualifying for the Olympics only to change course, and the importance of self-reflection in her sporting journey.
Duration: 43 mins
Hosts: Ellie Smith & Georgina Mallon
A co-production with Women Sport Australia
Music: Paredes Invisibles by Paula van Hissenhoven
For more information, links and resources plus conversations from the world of women’s sport including articles, blogs, videos and podcasts visit wispsports.com. WiSP Sports is the World’s First and Only Podcast Network for Women’s Sport with more than 60 hosts, 1300+ episodes across 50 shows and over 7 million downloads. WiSP Sports is on all major podcast players. Follow WiSP Sports on social media @WiSPsports. Contact us at [email protected].

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/women-unscripted--4769409/support.

On our weekly news magazine show Chris Stafford is joined by Nancy Gillen from Inside the Games who has the top stories from around the world of women’s sport. This week’s guest is Maggie Johnston our new Production Assistant who has some exciting plans for our social media...and she’s already a star on TikTok!
Top stories this week:
Rapinoe Comments on Women's Soccer
Laurenne Ross Returning Strong From Injury
Christie aiming for Olympic redemption
Chen Meng wins Women's World Cup - table tennis
Melissa Tapper aiming for Paralympic gold
ISA Women's Judging programme
Nancy Darsch dies
COSAFA Women's Championship
Duration: 29 mins
For more information, links and resources plus conversations from the world of women’s sport including articles, blogs, videos and podcasts visit wispsports.com. WiSP Sports is the World’s First and Only Podcast Network for Women’s Sport with more than 60 hosts, 1300+ episodes across 50 shows and over 7 million downloads. WiSP Sports is on all major podcast players. Follow WiSP Sports on social media @WiSPsports. Contact us at [email protected].

This week’s episode is coming to you on the eve of Veteran’s Day 2020 and we are very honored to share the inspiring story of veteran-patriot-athlete-author-mother Melissa Stockwell. Melissa grew up with big dreams, she knew she wanted to serve her country from an early age and in 2002 she was commissioned into the United States Army as an officer in the Transportation Corps. In 2004, Melissa was deployed to Baghdad, Iraq with the 1st Cavalry Division. It was during this deployment on a routine convoy that her vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb. Melissa became the first women to lose a limb in active combat and was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart for her Service and Sacrifice.  For Melissa, losing a leg, going through her rehab and recovery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center gave her a lot of perspective, and she remembers feeling lucky that she only lost one limb. This mindset was a pillar of strength for her as she went on to represent the USA, in a different uniform, at two Paralympic Games.
Inspiring us and so many on her journey, Melissa didn’t skip a beat when she and her husband decided to start a family. They had a window of time that worked for Melissa’s racing schedule and in true Army fashion, she made it happen.  She has two children who have taught her that being an athlete and a mom is about progress, not perfection. 
What have you done today that has been progress towards a goal?  Even the smallest acts or decisions can still get you a step towards where you want to be. For more inspiration read Melissa’s new book, The Power of Choice: My Journey from Wounded Warrior to World Champion.
Melissa also co-founded Dare2Tri, an Illinois-based 501(c)3 non-for-profit organization with the mission to enhance the lives of individuals with physical disabilities and visual impairments by building confidence, community, health and wellness through swimming, biking, and running.
Podcast length: 49 mins
Hosts: Sarah Newberry Moore & Pamela Relph Jones
For more information, links and resources plus conversations from the world of women’s sport including articles, blogs, videos and podcasts visit wispsports.com. WiSP Sports is the World’s First and Only Podcast Network for Women’s Sport with more than 60 hosts, 1300+ episodes across 50 shows and over 7 million downloads. WiSP Sports is on all major podcast players. Follow WiSP Sports on social media @WiSPsports. Contact us at [email protected].