A quick post, and a slight deviation from the norm, as I’m really pleased to be releasing new episodes of my podcast Off The Bench over the coming weeks.
As a sports journalist, I’ve had countless conversations with women in sport about moments they felt sidelined and how they found ways to thrive regardless.
Their experiences were always so varied and interesting, because of the barriers they overcame, that I wanted to give them a place to talk freely, openly and without the constraints of written word counts about their experiences.
So the show is about quite literally taking them off the bench (geddit?) and to the forefront to discuss all the moments that defined their careers.
The women we speak to are the best of the best - I mean tennis legend Billie Jean King was one of our first, and you don’t get much bigger than that?! I want to try to feature every sport imaginable - alongside King, so far we’ve had England rugby player Shaunaugh Brown, all-time great cricketer Katherine Sciver-Brunt and broadcaster Orla Chennaoui.
No topic is off limits, they’ve opened up about everything from negotiating for more prize money, mixing pregnancy and sport and intense trolling they experience online. Oh, and the sport itself!
The latest run of episodes is going to feature British women aiming for this summer’s Olympics and Paralympics in Paris, and I’m so pleased that we had cyclist Lizzie Deignan on to kick things off.
Deignan is a former world champion road racer, Olympic silver medallist and the first woman to win the famous Paris-Roubaix race. She’s also had some of her greatest success since she became a mother in 2018, and really impacted her sport for the better, by changing perceptions around motherhood and cycling.
Here’s a snippet from our conversation:
During the episode Lizzie was also candid about the biggest challenges that she’s faced in her career and I really enjoyed talking about what still motivates her, after spending the best part of two decades in the sport.
You can listen anywhere you usually get your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts. Or if watching videos is your thing you can watch via YouTube - just head to Off The Bench: Womens Sport.
The podcast is still pretty new, we’re just getting started really, so if you do listen let me know what you think!
All feedback welcome, and hope you enjoy the conversations.
Molly x