SportSpiel

Introducing the SportSpiel Mental Health Awareness Week specials. From May 14 we will be bringing you 6 episodes in 6 days talking all things mental health with a variety of special and inspiring people. May 14: Ruth Fox May 15: Sophia Ellis May 16: Sarah Williams May 17: Shona McCallin May 18: Chloe Bellerby May 19: Alasdair Hooper & Will Moulton Follow sportspielpod on social media or email...

Alasdair Hooper hosts a judo special with 2014 Commonwealth Champion and World bronze medalist Nekoda Smythe-Davis. The 25-year-old tells the podcast about how she got into the sport and how she has risen from not believing she could qualify for an Olympics to becoming a world bronze medalist.  She also tells about her upbringing on a London estate and her role in inspiring the next generation.  W...

Alasdair Hooper hosts a judo special with 2014 Commonwealth Champion Natalie Powell. In her one-on-one interview on the podcast Natalie takes us through her journey in judo as well as becoming the first British female to be ranked world number one.  Ahead of the European Championships she gives us an insight into her training and preparation. She also takes us through the biggest challenges she ha...

Alasdair Hooper and Will Moulton host a special episode of the podcast to celebrate SportSpiel's first birthday. One year ago today (April 20) the very first episode featuring James-Andrew Davis was released.  On this special episode Alasdair and Will look back at the first year of SportSpiel by revisiting that very first day as well as the talented, amazing guests that have been on.  There's also...

Alasdair Hooper and Will Moulton bring you episode 21 of SportSpiel. In our first segment we discuss: Our highlights and talking points from the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games (2:52) Our feature interview segment in this episode is with Olympic bronze medalist Sally Conway (34:05). The British judo star joined the show to tell use all about her career in sport as well as the aftermath of winni...

Alasdair Hooper hosts a Commonwealth Games Special with Team England boxer Cheavon Clarke. Gold Coast 2018 will be Cheavon's second Commonwealth Games after he represented Jamaica at Glasgow 2014. However, there is far more to the man than simply what happens in the ring.  Cheavon has experienced two near-death experiences and that has given him a completely different outlook on life.  In this one...

Alasdair Hooper and Will Moulton bring you episode 21 of SportSpiel. In our first segment we discuss: England's dismal display against New Zealand in their first test (2:24) Manchester United's decision to finally launch a women's team (8:45) Gareth Southgate's comments on racist abuse suffered by England national sides on social media (15:30) Our outstanding display award (20:05) Our feel good st...

Alasdair Hooper and Will Moulton bring you episode 20 of SportSpiel. In our first segment we discuss: The new UK Athlete Classification Code (4:47) What have we learnt from the Formula 1 testing? (11:33) Our outstanding display of the week award (18:36) Our feel good story of the week award (21:52) Our feature interview segment in this episode is with Keith Antoine, one of the most highly regarded...

Will Moulton hosts a Winter Paralympics Special with British skier and medal hope Millie Knight. PyeongChang will be Millie's second Paralympic Games after she initially represented Britain in Sochi as a 15-year-old and the team's flag bearer.  In this episode the now 19-year-old takes us through what it was like to lose her sight and why skiing was always going to be the sport for her.  Combined...

Alasdair Hooper and Will Moulton are joined by freelance journalist Alys Bowen to bring you episode 19 of SportSpiel. In our first segment we discuss: The British highlights at the Winter Olympics (3:45) The PyeongChang 2018 moments that made us say 'wow' (23:33) Our favourite moments from the Games (29:55) The OAR and drugs after two athletes test positive (34:55) Our feature interview segment in...

Alasdair Hooper hosts the eighth SportSpiel Winter Olympics special as we tick down to PyeongChang 2018 in style. In this episode we are joined by British figure skating stars Penny Coomes and Nick Buckland who have qualified for their third games against all the odds. In the summer of 2016 Penny suffered a fall in training and broke her kneecap into eight different pieces.  She was told the injur...

Will Moulton hosts the seventh SportSpiel Winter Olympics special as we tick down to PyeongChang 2018 in style. On this episode we are joined by skeleton racer Laura Deas as she takes us through her journey to this year's games. After the disappointment of not making it to Sochi 2014 the racer explains just how she bounced back this time around.  Laura also details how she found her way into skele...

Alasdair Hooper hosts the sixth SportSpiel Winter Olympics special as we tick down to PyeongChang 2018 in style. On this episode Alasdair is joined by the Associate Senior Writer of The Hockey News Matt Larkin to delve into the National Hockey League's decision to refuse to allow players to participate in this year's Winter Olympics. NHL players had been allowed to represent their countries for th...

Alasdair Hooper hosts the fifth SportSpiel Winter Olympics special as we tick down to PyeongChang 2018 in style. On this episode alpine skier Charlie Guest chats about her journey to get to her first Olympics after suffering a career-threatening injury in 2014. The Scot broke her back in a training crash just over three years ago but amazingly returned to the snow after just six weeks.  The after-...

Alasdair Hooper hosts the fourth SportSpiel Winter Olympics special as we tick down to PyeongChang 2018 in style. On this episode short track speed skater Charlotte Gilmartin returns to the podcast to tell us about her qualifying journey. Since Charlotte spoke to us back in July a combination of painful injuries proved to be a major hurdle as she tried to qualify for her second Olympics. However,...

Alasdair Hooper and Will Moulton bring you the third SportSpiel Winter Olympics special as we tick down to PyeongChang 2018 in style. In this episode we take a look at some of the key talking points ahead of the games: Have the Russian dopers won after the latest decision from the Court of Arbitration for Sport? (2:49) Russian speed skater Olga Graf's defiant stance (8:41) North and South Korea's...

Alasdair Hooper hosts the second SportSpiel Winter Olympic special as we tick down to PyeongChang 2018 in style. On this episode we are joined by British biathlete Amanda Lightfoot who has add a difficult journey to the games. Thanks to federation upheaval in April, Amanda has had to organise pretty much everything in her quest for qualification - all while maintaining a full time training regime....

Alasdair Hooper hosts the first SportSpiel Winter Olympic special as we tick down to PyeongChang 2018 in style. On this episode we are joined by Britain's number one ski cross athlete Emily Sarsfield who will be attending her first Olympic Games at the third attempt. It has been far from an easy journey for Emily to realise her Olympic dream as she missed out on the Vancouver 2010 games after suff...

Alasdair Hooper and Will Moulton are joined by 2017 SJA Student Sportswriter of the Year Katie Smith to bring you episode 18 of SportSpiel. In our first segment we discuss: England's disastrous Ashes tour in Australia (3:09) The Australian Open and the controversy surrounding Margaret Court (13:24) Saudi Arabia's decision to allow women into football stadiums for the first time (29:08) Our outstan...

Alasdair Hooper and Will Moulton bring you episode 17 of SportSpiel, a podcast full of sporting discussion and feature interviews. In our first segment we discuss: Our best, worst, funniest, most memorable, game-changing and most inspirational moments of 2017 (2:32) Our outstanding display of the week award (25:45) Our feel good story of the week award (27:33) Our feature interview segment in this...

Alasdair Hooper and Will Moulton bring you episode 16 of SportSpiel, a podcast full of sporting discussion and feature interviews. In our first segment we discuss: Who should or shouldn't be in the running for BBC Sports Personality of the Year (2:41) Is the IOC's ban on Russia competing at the 2018 Winter Olympics all it seems? (14:11) Our Outstanding Display of the Week Award (20:46) Our Feel Go...

Alasdair Hooper and Will Moulton bring you a SportSpiel Special looking at some of the biggest sports talking points from the past fortnight. Here is what is included in today's discussion podcast: Stonewall's rainbow laces campaign - what more needs to happen to support LGBT fans and players? (2:12) Was this year's Formula One season a colossal disappointment? (10:24) Does the BBC's Price of Foot...

Alasdair Hooper and Will Moulton bring you episode 15 of SportSpiel, a podcast full of sporting discussion and feature interviews. In our first segment we discuss: The awkward - and blatant - sexism on show at the ATP Next Gen Finals launch event (2:56) The incredible recovery of cyclist Vicky Barnes after a shocking crash left her with severe, paralysis-threatening injuries (8:01) If Patrice Evra...

Alasdair Hooper and Will Moulton bring you episode 14 of SportSpiel, a podcast full of sporting discussion and feature interviews. In our first segment we discuss: Elise Christie's deserved Sportswoman of the Year Award (2:16) Ellie Downie's Young Sportswoman of the Year triumph (7:22) Hannah Cockroft's shocking revelations about Para classification tests (9:46) The Best FIFA Football awards - a g...

Alasdair Hooper and Will Moulton bring you episode 13 of SportSpiel, a podcast full of sporting discussion and feature interviews. In our first segment we discuss: Will Qatar be stripped of the 2022 FIFA World Cup (2:16)? Are we obsessed with medal table success after British Swimming had to apologise for the creation of a 'climate of fear' amongst Paralympic athletes (11:57)? Our feature intervie...