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...

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 ta...

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...

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, climbin...

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-t...

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 appr...

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 Foo...

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 se...

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...

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...

This episode was previously released on October 29,  2019. Paratriathlon World Champion and Paralympic Silver medallist, Lauren also enthralled us all as a semi-finalist on  Strictly Come Dancing in 2018. 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...

This episode was previously released on June 4, 2019 as the very first episode of The Game Changers Having won 11 Paralympic Gold medals and the London Marathon six times, Tanni now sits as an independent peer in the House of Lords and is Chair of ukactive.  Find out more about The Game Changers here Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award. Fi...

This episode of The Game Changers was preiously released on July 7, 2020. Captain of the Lionesses and Man City, Steph has represented her country at every level, with over 100 appearances for England.    Steph’s also led Man City to two Women's FA Cups, three Continental Cup successes and the FA Women's Super League title, as well as landing the PFA’s Merit Award in 2019.   Representing...

“It was such a shock for me and it still is. I still don't understand it to this day. I actually didn't sleep that night because I didn't want to wake up and it be something I had to deal with again.” Mo Hunt discussing her surprise exclusion from the Rugby World Cup squad in 2023 Ahead of this weekend’s start of the Guinness Women’s Six Nations, I’m thrilled to say that my guest to...

My guest today is Lisa O'Keefe, a former Scottish international rugby player who was a director at Sport England for 14 years and is now Secretary General of the International Working Group on Women and Sport, the world's largest network dedicated to gender equality in sport and physical activity.  Lisa is responsible for leading the Secretariat while it's hosted in the UK until 202...

“It’s very difficult to find venues in the UK. Teams in the USA have permanent venues where they train. We're stuck with pokey little sports halls where we're constantly fighting the badminton mafia for space.” Today’s episode is an adrenaline-fueled journey into the world of roller derby with the formidable Kristen Dusting, a silver medalist in the 2014 Roller Derby World Cup who's...

Today’s guest is Sabrina Pace-Humphreys, an ultra-runner, award-winning businesswoman, social justice activist, personal trainer, running coach and co-founder and trustee of the community and campaigning charity Black Trail Runners. The mother of four and grandmother of three, recently published her memoir, Black Sheep, a story of rural racism, identity and hope.  It’s fascinating to hear how a sh...

“The utopia of officiating should be that anybody, regardless of gender, can umpire any game”. Sue Redfern is a much-celebrated cricket umpire and former England player.  Sue became the youngest ever female to play cricket for England when she started her career at just 16 and went on to represent her country for the next five years, including playing in the 1997 World Cup in India. Having retired...

‘The most intricate sport nobody’s ever heard of’ – Claire Taggart describing her sport of Boccia.  With the Paris Paralympics just a few months away, it was fantastic to hear from Claire Taggart, world number one at Boccia, and find out more about this inclusive sport.  Claire represented Paralympics GB in Rio and Tokyo and became Northern Ireland’s first-ever Boccia world champion in 2022.  We d...

“The England management in place now, and the type of environment we try to create for the senior team is very different to before… the environment at England camp is a much friendlier and nicer one than it was a handful of years ago.” We start a new series with a fabulous conversation with Jess Carter, a professional footballer with England and Chelsea.  Jess was one of the Lionesses that won the...

Welcome to The Game Changers. It’s hard to believe this is series 16 of the podcast, which celebrates the trailblazers in women’s sport exploring critical issues around equality in sport and beyond. We are so pleased that again this season of The Game Changers is supported by Sport England through a National Lottery Award. We’re incredibly grateful for their ongoing support, which enables us to sh...

Now entering its 5th year, The Game Changers continues to evolve, providing a safe space for female athletes and senior women in sport to share their stories and explore critical issues around equality and inclusion. Ahead of series 16, which launches in February, we're sharing a special highlights episode from 2023. Preeti Shetty , Director at Brentford Football Club, shares her shocking fir...

This episode was originally released as part of Series 3 on April 7, 2020. Widely regarded as one of the greatest-ever female players, Kelly Smith MBE is England women’s record goal scorer and four-time Women’s Premier League winner with Arsenal Women. Kelly talks openly about how tough it was playing football as youngster and being kicked off two teams for being a girl, how England is now the bes...

A re-released episode originally published as part of Series 3 on May 19, 2020. At the time of the original release Casey was Manager at Man United Women, and had been capped over 100 times for England and captained the Lionesses and Team GB during the London 2012 Olympics.   Casey talks us about how she was bullied for playing football as a girl, her surreal first cap in front of a crowd of 45,00...

This episode was originally released as part of Series 2 on Sept 17, 2019. Former England Cricket Captain, Clare Connor has transformed the game from grassroots to the elite level, she is now ECB Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director England Women. Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award. Find out more about The Game Changers po...