Fair play - The sports podcast from Penningtons Manches Cooper

In this episode, we sit down with Jordan Albert and Fraser Singleton, co founders of Forseti Race, to explore Jordan’s entry into motorsport and the financial and practical barriers he faced at grassroots level. With costs including cars and fuel to track fees - and with a single set of tyres costing up to £1,000 and often needing to be replaced multiple times per session - the sport remains inaccessible to most aspiring drivers. Recognising how strongly family wealth influences progression, Jordan and Fraser founded Forseti. By developing technology that bridges the gap between esports and real world racing, their mission is to reduce the financial burden of pursuing a motorsport career. In this episode, we discuss Forseti’s technology and the future role of e-sports, AI and technology in talent development, to create a more accessible and inclusive future for motorsport.

In this episode we are joined by Luke Middleton, Head of advisory board, Global Tech Advocates - SportsTech, where he plays a key role in driving innovation and collaboration across the global sportstech ecosystem. Combining his passion for AI and rugby, Luke is undertaking a PhD focused on the application of artificial intelligence in rugby union, while also building an injury prediction AI model. With a focus on injury prevention, this episode explores how AI could reshape the global sports industry; the challenges and opportunities it presents; and critically, the ethical considerations surrounding athlete's data rights. We also delve into how Luke's model could uncover injury patterns and identify what injuries an athlete is at high, medium and low risk of based on thousands of data points. As AI continues to evolve, will we see it making sports smarter and safer?

In this episode, we are joined by 2012 Olympian Andrew Lawrence. From playing basketball for Great Britain Under-20s, to going to the US on a full college scholarship and then playing professionally in Europe, we speak about his career, injuries, and everything in between. We also talk about basketball in Britain, its lack of funding, plus Andrew’s hopes for the future and what we’re doing to create and retain basketball talent in the country.

In this episode, we speak to Pippa Britton OBE to explore her incredible journey in the world of archery. Pippa shares her experiences, challenges, and triumphs, offering a unique perspective as both a Paralympian and able-bodied competitor for Wales. We delve into her major surgeries, her experience at the Paralympics, classifications, the importance of inclusivity, her board level roles in the governance side of sport and the upcoming Paralympics in Paris.

We are joined by Bobby Clay, a once rising star in British athletics whose Olympic dreams were shattered by a diagnosis of osteoporosis at just 19 years old. In this episode, she shares her journey from being a top 1500m runner to facing the realities of overtraining and under-eating.

GB weightlifter Jenny Tong joins us for a conversation on her life before finding weightlifting, her journey as an athlete and battle with injuries to become English and British champion in 2022, and her roles in governance, safeguarding, coaching and as a board member.

In this introductory episode into season two, we are joined by Alistair Patrick-Heselton to discuss his inspiring story of resilience, from overcoming severe head trauma as a result of a car crash to representing ParalympicsGB at the 2012 London Paralympic Games in the 7-a-Side Cerebral Palsy (and Brain Injury) team.

Gemma Johnston (CEO and co-founder of She Is Action) joins us to discuss what needs to change to boost female participation in sport. We look at the barriers to entry at various stages of life, some perceptions and misconceptions that are depriving women and girls of their chance to compete and how Gemma and her business hope to implement change.

We are joined by the brilliant Monique Choudhuri (former NED, Brentford FC; current NED, Women in Football) to discuss women in football, WiF’s “Open Doors” agenda, the alarming events surrounding Jenni Hermoso and the future of sponsorship/broadcasting in the female game.