Talking Sport & Tech

In this episode, Alex chats to Tim Hollingsworth OBE, CEO at Sport England, the agency responsible for delivering sport and physical activity at community level across England. Tim reflects on his career to-date and where he sees the sport and physical activity sector heading into the future.   In early 2021 Sport England announced a new ten-year strategy called ‘Uniting the Movement’ with a focus on helping grassroots sport and physical activity to recover from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, a vision to address the challenges of the next decade, tackle inequalities and provide more opportunities. Tim highlights what this really means for the sports and physical activity sector, whether you’re a national governing body of sport, a community sports club, or a sports tech entrepreneur building a product to help more people become active.   For seven years prior to his role in Sport England, Tim was Chief Executive at the British Paralympic Association, the National Paralympic Committee for the United Kingdom. He also served as Secretary General for ParalympicsGB at four Paralympic Games. Tim reflects on his time working through the London 2012 and Rio 2016 games, the impact that it had on his career, and the legacy these profound events have had on the sport and physical activity sector in the UK.  

This week’s episode features Hana Sutch, Co-Founder and CEO at Go Jauntly, a multi-award winning walking, wayfinding and nature connection app.Hana created Go Jauntly to break down barriers to exercise by helping people discover walks, create their own journeys, and share outdoor adventures with friends. Go Jauntly, which is ranked among Airbnb and Calm on Apple's Editors Choice Awards, partners with a variety of organisations including Transport for London, Sport England, Greater Manchester Moving, to increase walking for leisure, active travel, as well as nature connection. In this episode, Hana speaks to Alex and Milly about her mission to help more people get active through unlocking hidden gems in green spaces in the UK, her journey as a founder and the challenges she’s faced in the male-dominated tech industry when it comes to fundraising, and her experience of leading a social impact business. 

This episode of Talking Sport & Tech features Lisa Wainwright MBE, CEO, Sport and Recreation Alliance, the umbrella body for sport and recreation in the UK. Lisa was appointed CEO of the Sport and Recreation Alliance in 2019 and received an MBE in the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to sport. In this episode, Lisa reflects on her career, the power of sports communities, her view of diversity and innovation in the sport and physical activity sector, and her philosophies as a leader.  Alex and Milly chat to Lisa about her mission to create space for innovation and risk taking in the sector, by eradicating the fear of failure. Lisa relishes challenge and continues to strive for improvement both personally and in others. In 2019 she was awarded Women CEO of the year alongside being awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Bedfordshire University and named in the 2020 OUTstanding 100 LGBT+ Executives List for the third year in a row.  

This episode features Born Barikor, the hugely successful CEO and Founder of Our Parks, which provides free group exercise in parks and outdoor spaces, working in partnership with local authorities. Born is a former athlete from a council estate in Tower Hamlets, who after finding himself with no money to join a gym but wanting to keep fit, came up with the idea of creating an accessible pathway to exercise for people from lower incomes by working with councils and development agencies to offer the public free outdoor exercise classes. In this episode, Alex and Milly chat to Born about his journey as a founder, the determination to break down barriers to exercise and physical activity, the true meaning of a ‘community’, his advice to other founders in the sector, and his vision of getting 1,000,000 ‘Parkers’ fit by 2025.  

The first episode of Talking Sport & Tech features Huw Edwards, CEO of ukactive, the not-for-profit health body with a mission to get More People, More Active, More Often. Huw has played a key role in shaping ukactive’s strategy, as well as leading the organisation’s engagement with government.  In this episode, Huw shares how his career to-date has been a marriage of politics and sport. Previously, Huw was the Public Affairs lead at British Tennis. He has also worked for both the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Olympic Delivery Authority during the delivery of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Alex and Milly chat to Huw about pushing the government for political will behind the sport and physical activity sector, his ‘team-first’ mentality as a leader, and his vision as to how technology can weave into the traditional sport and physical activity sector to make more people active, and ultimately transform their lives.  

The Talking Sport & Tech podcast gives you a glimpse into the lives of inspiring leaders and entrepreneurs from the sport and physical activity sector.Hosted by Milly Pelmore and Alex Zurita from Sport Tech Hub, powered by London Sport, this podcast brings together leaders and innovators in the sports and technology sectors.Through these motivational and uplifting conversations, we're finding out what really makes these leaders tick, exploring their growth stories, sharing learnings and driving the adoption of technology as a tool to increase physical activity levels in London and beyond.