Hunger & Heart with Kaila Colbin

Craig White has spent more than three decades coaching at the highest levels of professional sport, including international rugby, professional football, and elite club environments. He's coached with the British and Irish Lions, worked in the English Premier League, and guided international rugby teams across five Rugby World Cups.  Over the last decade, he's worked as a leadership mentor, s...

Dame Susan Devoy dominated international squash through the 1980s: world number one for nearly a decade, four-time world champion, eight-time British Open winner, and the most decorated player in New Zealand squash history. Her achievements were recognised with numerous honours, and she went on to serve in prominent leadership roles — including five years as New Zealand's Race Relations Commission...

Kieran Read is rugby royalty: former Crusaders captain, former All Blacks captain, one of the most capped players of all time, and the fifth most capped All Black in history. He played 127 Tests, scored 26 international tries, and is one of only 45 players worldwide to have won multiple men’s Rugby World Cups. In this conversation, Kaila and Kieran explore: the specific techniques the Crusaders us...

Marina Erakovic spent a decade ranked inside the world's top 100 tennis players. She competed in 36 Grand Slams, reached a career-high ranking of 39, and won 9 WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) and 18 ITF (International Tennis Federation) titles. Marina represented New Zealand at two Olympic Games and one Commonwealth Games, and played more than 600 main draw singles matches, including 44 at Grand...

Hugo Inglis is a four-time Olympian who represented New Zealand in field hockey, earning more than 250 caps for the national team and winning both silver and bronze medals at the Commonwealth Games. He's also the co-founder of High Impact Athletes.   In this conversation, Hugo and Kaila talk about: how his competitiveness with his brother led him into elite hockey,  his move from measuring su...

Alice Soper has been playing rugby in Wellington women’s teams since she was 13 years old; she’s played Sevens and 15s and she’s also played in England.  She’s a freelance journalist, a content creator, and a staunch advocate for getting women over the advantage line. In this conversation, we talk about: the fact that the All Blacks are NOT the winningest team of all time,  the differenc...

Last episode, Kaila spoke with Don Tricker, who said something that caught her attention: the only reason to have process-driven goals is in service of an ambitious outcome. In fact, focusing on process while excluding outcome may be a cop-out. Goal-setting is something Kaila and Boma educational designer Hannah Hudson have talked about for years, but Kaila’s conversation with Don sparked a new ex...

Don Tricker was a former player and coach of the Black Sox, New Zealand's national softball team.  Don worked in IT for a number of years before joining Sport and Recreation New Zealand. After playing a crucial role in the analysis of New Zealand's disappointing performance at the 2007 Men's Rugby World Cup, he was appointed by New Zealand Rugby as High Performance Manager in 2010.  In 2...

The legendary Shane Fletcher — or “Fletch” is the High Performance Campaign Manager for the Black Ferns, both the XV and the Sevens. He was the team manager for the Crusaders for 8 years; his tenure there included their 7-in-a-row championship run. Fletch is also one of the extraordinary teaching assistants on the Crusaders Leadership Programme™ , so someone we get the privilege of working with on...

Shane Bond is a legend of New Zealand cricket, widely accepted as one of the greatest fast bowlers of his era. Currently, he has the second best bowling strike rate of all time in test match cricket. He played for the New Zealand Black Caps in Test, One Day International and T20. To this day, he is the fastest New Zealander to take a hundred wickets in One Day Internationals, achieving that feat i...

Known as the Mountain Warrior, Shane Cameron was the Commonwealth cruiserweight champion and held the WBO Oriental, WBO Asia-Pacific and IBF Pan-Pacific titles. Today, he’s a businessman, with ventures including the Shane Cameron Fitness gym and the Counterpunch boxing range. In today’s episode, Shane talks about: his rural upbringing and how he felt like — in his words — the “dumbest kid in schoo...

Todd Astle is a former professional cricketer; playing Test, ODI, and T20 cricket for the New Zealand Black Caps. In 2023, alongside his brother Ryan and his mate Ged Robinson, Todd co-founded BetterMan, a not-for-profit delivering BYC — betterment, yarns and competition — for men in Christchurch. In this episode, Todd talks about: what it was like to get four ducks in a row (of the cricketing var...

Karameli Faaee is one of the most successful international rugby players in US history. As captain of the USA Women’s Eagles, she led the team to fourth place in the 2017 Rugby World Cup, their first time making it to the semifinals in nearly 20 years. She then went into coaching and became the first-ever women’s coach of a US professional men’s rugby team, Rugby United New York. In this episode,...

We’ve just returned from the U.S., where we filmed content in collaboration with the U.S. Soccer Foundation. Our work together focuses on the Yes Coach! initiative, which has a target of upskilling 100,000 coach-mentors across the United States by 2030.  We interviewed 10 players and coaches, from grassroots to pro levels, and were struck by how many parallels we saw with past Hunger & He...

This week, no new Hunger & Heart episode. Kaila checks in from Seattle, where she’s been filming with an incredible crew and extraordinary coaches and athletes. Stay tuned, we’ll be back next week! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Zoë McBride is a double world champion in the women's lightweight single scull rowing. She held the world record in the lightweight single scull and is only the second New Zealander to win a double national championship in both the lightweight and premier single sculls. Zoë stepped away from rowing in 2021 and has been open about how the need to make weight took its toll, not only on her body, but...

Campbell Johnstone played for the Crusaders in 2004 and for the All Blacks in 2005. In 2023, he came out as the first openly gay All Black and made headlines around the world. In this episode, Campbell talks about: The surprising way his older brother reacted when he came out  How he let himself down in his goal to become an All Black The remarkable support he received from the rugby communit...

On the Crusaders Leadership Programme™, you get two live, one-hour, Ask-Me-Anything sessions with our faculty, including Sir Wayne Smith, who we featured on Episode 5 of the podcast.  For today's episode, we are pulling a clip from one of those Ask-Me-Anything sessions where Smithy talks about his experience coaching the Kobelco Steelers, the rugby team for the Kobe Steel Company in Japan.&nb...

DJ Forbes is Rugby Sevens royalty. He played in 512 games in 89 tournaments, winning six World Series. Last year he was inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame. In this episode, DJ talks about: The influence of his Samoan culture on his leadership Coming to grips with the idea of captaining his nation What surprised him in going from player to captain to coach A huge thanks to Celebrity Speaker...

Raelene Castle is a woman of firsts: first female CEO of a club in the National Rugby League, the first female CEO of Rugby Australia, and the first female CEO of Sport New Zealand. She’s also unafraid to take on gnarly issues, operating at the centre of the storm for some of the biggest controversies and challenges on the world stage with a near-supernatural level of grace and steadiness. In this...

Rob Penney just finished his 2nd year as head coach of the Crusaders.  Year One: the team didn't make it to the playoffs for the first time in nearly a decade.  Year Two: complete turnaround, won the championship. Huge credit of course has to go to Colin Mansbridge, Angus Gardiner, Brent Francis, and the entire leadership team for keeping their cool, understanding what needed to be done,...

Kathrine Switzer was the first woman to officially run the Boston Marathon in 1967 — and had to literally fight off a race official to do so. Because of her, millions of women are now empowered by the simple act of running. In this episode, Kathrine talks about: How her parents empowered her to think differently about what was possible How she has continued to leverage her experience to expand acc...

New Zealand windsurfing icon Barbara Kendall won Olympic gold in 1992 — the first Kiwi woman to win gold in any sport in more than 40 years, and only the second woman ever to do so. She is a 5x Olympian with 25 national titles and 11 world championship medals. She was also the first woman inducted into the world Sailing Hall of Fame. In this episode, Barbara talks about: The impact of nearly dying...

Ian Jones MNZM is one of New Zealand's most capped locks, with 105 games and 79 tests for the All Blacks. Known as Kamo,  Ian played for the Chiefs from 1996 to 1999, and is now a rugby commentator for Sky Sports as well as General Manager of the All Blacks Experience in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. In this episode, Ian talks about: What it takes to be an All Black What his most impactful coache...

Anna Galvan's netball career spanned 17 years. She played for the Southern Sting and for the Canterbury Flames, later the Canterbury Tactix. As a Silver Fern representing New Zealand, she competed at the Commonwealth Games in 2002, where New Zealand lost the final in heartbreaking double overtime to Australia.  In this episode, Anna talks about: That silver medal. The challenge of balancing m...