The Game Changers

Meghan MacLaren, is a hugely successful professional golfer, and significant voice in the sport, commenting on the game and the culture that surrounds it through her hugely popular blog and social media presence. Meg graduated from Florida University in 2016 with a degree in English and Political Science, along with seven Division 1 College Golf victories. She was a member of the victorious 2016 C...

Alice Dearing is one of the world's top marathon swimmers and a true game changer in the sport. In 2021 she became the first black woman to swim for Great Britain at an Olympic Games, representing a huge milestone for diversity in the sport.  Alice is also co-founder of the Black Swimming Association, an organisation that advocates for water, safety and inclusion for Black and Asian minoritie...

Fantastic news for all fans of women’s sport and equality – a new series of The Game Changers will be released on Tuesday July 26, 2022. And for the first time, all seven new episodes in series 11 will be released immediately, ensuring there’s plenty of great, inspiring content to listen to this summer. Once again, this season of the award-winning podcast is backed by Sport England through a Natio...

Lizzie Deignan is one of the world’s greatest ever female cyclists. She’s won World, Commonwealth and National titles as a road cyclist and is an Olympic silver medallist. Lizzie is now also changing the narrative around motherhood and elite sport. Having returned to cycling after the birth of daughter Orla, last October she won the inaugural Paris-Roubaix Femmes after pulling away from the peloto...

Isa Guha was the first woman of South Asian origin to represent England in sport when she made her international cricket debut in 2002, aged 17. Her career, which spanned a decade, included winning the 2009 Women's World Cup, Women's World T20 and three Ashes Series. Isa is now firmly established in sports media, having broken many barriers along the way both presenting and commentating...

Today’s guest is transforming the way women talk about their bodies.   Dr Emma Ross is the former Head of Physiology at the English Institute of Sport where she led the smartHER progamme, educating coaches and athletes about the female body in high performance sport.   Since then, Emma’s worked with everyone from elite athletes and top coaches through to head teachers and schoolgirls - passionate...

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 approach to sports reporting whether that’s in front of the...

Tammy Parlour MBE is the co-founder and dynamic CEO of The Women's Sport Trust, and works with leaders across sport, media and business, to raise the visibility and increase impact of women's sport.   Away from her role at the Women’s Sport Trust, Tammy is a master in the Korean martial art of Hapkido having practiced for 40 years. She set up her own hapkido and meditation school in the...

Pippa Britton is Wales’s most successful Archer, a double Paralympian and double world champion. Pippa made the podium at six consecutive world championships and won 24 medals at 24 international events.  Pippa also represented the Welsh able bodied archery team on more than 20 occasions and has broken many world and national records.    After retiring from competing, Pippa decided to give back to...

Along with game-changing women in sport, The Game Changers features male allies and today’s guest is having a huge impact on the visibility of women's sport.  Jonathan Licht is a managing director of Sky Sports. He originally joined Sky back in 1998 after starting his career at Eurosport, he was appointed managing director for Sky Sports in 2021 and is leading the business into its fourth dec...

Shaunagh Brown is a professional rugby player for Harlequins and England who encourages us all to re-think gender stereotypes in sport and across society. A former Hammer Thrower who competed at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Shaunagh trained as a British Gas engineer and a commercial diver, before becoming a full-time firefighter with the Kent Fire and Rescue Service. Now on a 3-year sabbatical fro...

Fantastic news for all fans of women’s sport and equality – the 10th series of The Game Changers podcast is launched today with an incredible line up of guests and backing from Sport England through a National Lottery award.    This award-winning podcast sees Sue Anstiss talking to trailblazing women in sport who are knocking down barriers and challenging the status quo for women and girls across...

Today's guest is recognised as one of the world’s greatest ever netballers. Serena Guthrie was part of the England team that secured that incredible gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games against Australia on the Gold Coast.   Serena played in New Zealand and Australia, before returning home to Team Bath in 2019 where she captained the Roses to bronze in a home World Cup. In recognition fo...

What does the future hold for the fans of women's sport? I find out in this conversation with Angela Ruggiero - a four-time Olympian, and Gold Medallist in ice hockey, who was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2015 with the longest career of any man or woman in a USA hockey jersey.  With an MBA from Harvard Business School, Angela's held leadership positions at the highest levels...

Anne Wafula Strike is an extraordinary para-athlete who is also an author, inspirational speaker, disability rights campaigner and powerful advocate for the less fortunate in society. Born in Kenya, Anne contracted polio at the age of two, resulting in paralysis of her lower body.  Arriving in the UK in April 2000, she was introduced to wheelchair racing in 2002 and in 2004 became the first Kenyan...

Sue Day was a legend on the rugby pitch – former England captain at 15s and 7s –Sue played in three World Cups, helped win three Grand Slams and was one of England's top try scorers with 61 tries from 59 caps. She was made President of Wasps in 2013 – the first woman to hold that role in the club’s 146-year history.  A qualified chartered accountant with over 20 years’ experience in financial...

Kelly Lindsey is a former professional footballer who's also played in the US national team.  Since retiring as a player at just 23 following many injuries, she's thrived as an incredibly successful coach leading teams across the world in the US, Hong Kong, Afghanistan and Morocco. Last year was appointed as Sporting Director at Lewes FC the first gender equal football club in the world....

Ugo Monye is former Harlequins, England and British & Irish Lions rugby player, who’s now more familiar to us as a sports broadcaster, podcaster and TV presenter.   He’s a captain on BBC’s Question of Sport and also took part in last year’s Strictly Come Dancing.   When not talking about rugby on TV shows and podcasts, Ugo is Chair of the RFU’s Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Group and recent...

Shruti Saujani is Senior Manager for Cities & Volunteers at the England and Wales Cricket Board - the ECB. She's passionate about ensuring cricket is a sport for everyone, and helping women from South Asian backgrounds overcome many of the barriers they face in sport. Shurti's work has seen her lead a team that has engaged and recruited 2,000 South Asian females into volunteering rol...

Holly Bradshaw is Britain’s most successful pole vaulter, consistently ranked among the world's best having won medals at various European and World Championships across the past decade.  Current British record holder in the event indoors and outdoors, for many athletics fans it was one of the highlights of the Tokyo Olympics to see Holly win a bronze medal.   In this fascinating episode Holl...

Fantastic news for all fans of women’s sport and equality - The Game Changers podcast returns this month with an incredible line up of guests and backing from Sport England through a National Lottery award. This award-winning podcast sees Sue Anstiss talking to trailblazers in women sport who are knocking down barriers and challenging the status quo for women and girls across society. Along with o...

In this special episode of The Game Changers, to celebrate the launch of ‘Game On’, we turn the tables and Sue Anstiss is interviewed by the rather brilliant Hannah Wilkes from Sky Sports. In another first, the podcast is recorded in front of a live audience at  Leaders Week in London. Sue shares much about her own relationship with sport, along with the joys & challenges across her career fro...

Best known for her excellence both on the track and in the field as a multi-eventer Katarina Johnson-Thompson (KJT) is no stranger to success. At the tender age of 26, the two-time Olympian has impressive athletics career which includes her saw her crowned World Champion Heptathlete in Doha in 2019.  In this episode, Katarina talks about tackling anxiety and body issues, transforming her mental ap...

Laura Woods is the 2021 SJA Sports Presenter of the Year and one of the leading female broadcasters in the sports industry. Laura is a regular on Sky Sports and the host of talkSPORT’s Sports Breakfast, one of the most listened to shows in the UK. In this episode, Laura talks about being the class clown at school, working her way up the career ladder, being your own cheerleader and always staying...

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 Football and the media spotlight she faced in the aftermath of the 2017 World C...