The SportsAid Vault

The SportsAid Vault Podcast, produced by Hogarth Worldwide and Gramercy Park Studios, is back for a second series and being brought to you in association with Commonwealth Games England and the Team England Futures programme! Each episode will see us providing you with unique insight ahead of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, alongside special guests, as Team England get set to impress on home soil. The second series of the podcast, hosted by Tom Gayle, BBC sports presenter, commentator and reporter, is inspired by Team England Futures. The programme, which is being delivered by SportsAid on behalf of Commonwealth Games England and Sport England, will see over 1,000 talented young athletes and aspiring support staff attending Birmingham 2022. The programme aims to give the next generation of athletes a first-hand look behind-the-scenes.…experiencing a major Games in the flesh and better preparing them for future multi-sport competitions. It also plans to help aspiring support staff understand what opportunities they could be presented with at a major Games….as well as the challenges they may face along the way.The second series kicks off in style with Danielle Brown MBE and Tim Lawler MBE as our special guests! Episode one is themed ‘Part of the Pride’ and sees Danielle and Tim talking about what it means to be part of Team England and representing its values, their excitement for Birmingham 2022, the build-up towards this summer’s Games, and the importance of Team England Futures.Archery legend Danielle made history by becoming the first Paralympian to represent England in an able-bodied event at the Commonwealth Games – winning team gold in Delhi back in 2010. Danielle is also a five-time world champion and double Paralympic gold medallist having topped the podium at Beijing 2008 and London 2012 - both times in the women’s individual compound event. Danielle is now a motivational speaker, children’s author and champion of inclusion….as well as an ambassador and mentor for the Team England Futures programme at Birmingham 2022. Tim is the Chief Executive of SportsAid – a position he has held since 2004 after a seven-year spell at Saracens Rugby Club where he was the youngest Managing Director in Premiership Rugby. Back in 2011, Tim was the first person to be publicly named as a London 2012 Olympic torchbearer in recognition of his work with SportsAid….and his passion for supporting and providing opportunities for young people.During Tim’s tenure, the charity has been given responsibility to manage several Sport England-backed programmes including the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme, the Backing The Best programme and, more recently, Team England Futures. Tim is also Chair of the LTA Tennis Foundation.

The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games produced so many top-level performances and outstanding medal successes for Great Britain to celebrate….it’s hard to know where to start! We felt it was time for another special episode of the SportsAid Vault Podcast which reflects on the Paralympics and gives you the inside track on the Games in Tokyo. So what do we have in store? In this episode, recorded just a few days after the Closing Ceremony, we’ll be finding out about the logistical challenges posed by the delayed Games and how athletes were supported during this time.We’ll discover what it was like competing without live crowds, hear about life in the Athletes’ Village and relive the stand-out moments for ParalympicsGB which captured the nation’s attention. We’ll look at the reception the team have received since coming back home and discuss the impact of a shortened, three-year cycle ahead of Paris 2024. We’ll also delve into how the next generation of para athletes are identified, highlight the growing popularity of the Paralympic movement and why increased exposure - and representation - can help inspire more disabled people to take up sport. Our first guest on this special episode is Alasdair Donaldson - the Paralympic Talent and Development Manager at British Triathlon. He acts as the sport’s Operational Lead for the Paralympic Games - where the para triathlon team won one gold, one silver and one bronze medal in Tokyo. Alasdair joined British Triathlon in 2013 and leads the delivery of Talent ID programmes to help identify the next generation of para triathletes. Prior to this, he was an Endurance Coach at UK Athletics which saw him working at the World University Games and the Youth Olympics. Our second guest is Fabienne André - a T34 wheelchair racer who made her ParalympicsGB debut in Tokyo. She competed in the T34 Women's 100m and 800m - coming fifth and fourth respectively. Earlier this year, she won gold in the 100m and 800m at the World Para Athletics European Championships. Fabienne was a highly successful swimmer, winning bronze and three silver medals at the Cerebral Palsy World Games in 2018, but switched to wheelchair racing shortly afterwards. The 25-year-old works as a Physiotherapist Assistant at the Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust. Co-hosted by Tom Gayle, BBC sports presenter, commentator and reporter, and Dominic Mensah, current Great Britain tumbling sensation, the SportsAid Vault, produced by Hogarth Worldwide and Gramercy Park Studios, launched in February and has welcomed a number of exciting guests to share their career insights. Footballer Lotte Wubben-Moy, triathlete Alex Yee and para swimmer Louise Fiddes - all of whom competed in Tokyo - have previously featured. Alex won gold and silver on his Team GB debut, while Louise returned silver and bronze on her first outing for ParalympicsGB.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games are in full swing….and it’s time for a special episode of the SportsAid Vault Podcast! So what do we have in store for you? Well, as we know, reaching the Olympics and winning a medal for your country is often considered to be the ultimate goal for many athletes. In this episode, recorded on the morning before the Opening Ceremony, we decided to focus specifically on sports psychology and mental fitness. How do you mentally prepare for a major competition like the Olympics? How do you handle the ups and downs of high-performance sport? How can your mind take you to the podium? Our first guest on this special episode is Chris Shambrook - Performance Director of BelievePerform and Psychology Consultant for the Great Britain Rowing Team at five Olympic Games. He has been working in the world of high performance for over 25 years. His first Olympics were in Sydney in 2000….and he has played a key role for the rowing team at the Games in Athens, Beijing, London and Rio. Chris has a PhD in Psychology and is an Honorary Professor at Staffordshire University. He works closely with SportsAid and talented young athletes through the charity’s partnership with BelievePerform. Our second guest is Nekoda Davis - a British judoka who represented Team GB at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. She competes in the -57kg category and won her first senior medal when representing Team England at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. She followed up that success in subsequent years with a huge array of podium finishes at Grand Prix and Grand Slam events around the world. Two of Nekoda’s biggest achievements to date have seen her secure podium finishes at the IJF World Judo Championships - claiming bronze in Budapest in 2017 before taking silver in Baku in 2018. Chris highlights the mental challenge of preparing for an Olympics and how athletes have to focus on performing independently of unique circumstances presented by the Games. He talks about creating a balance between the process and outcome, avoiding a ‘threat state’ and having a ‘challenge mindset’ to deliver your personal best. He discusses the need for self-care, the importance of training the mind and making full use of your support network. He also covers missing out on selection, acting as a travelling reserve, dealing with unexpected success and making sense of disappointments. Nekoda, who withdrew from selection for Tokyo in order to aid her rehabilitation from a concussion injury, offers insight on the mental adjustments athletes have had to make in the build-up to the Games due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She reflects on her experience at Rio 2016, how she dealt with the emotions caused by her second-round loss, and how she assessed areas for future improvement. She also examines the increased interest in psychology in recent years and how she puts greater emphasis on the journey, as well as the enjoyment of the sport, over medal success.

Great Britain triathlete Alex Yee is the latest guest to join us on the SportsAid Vault Podcast as he shares stories and insights from his career so far! Alex, who was supported by the Dave Aitchison Fund through SportsAid in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016, already has multiple European and international medals to his name at senior level. He enjoyed an illustrious career in the junior ranks – winning silver at the Holten ETU Triathlon Junior European Cup in 2015 followed by consecutive golds at the ITU Duathlon World Championships in Aviles and Soria – in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Alex’s early success led to him being presented with SportsAid’s One-to-Watch Award as an 18-year-old. He has also excelled on the track and in cross country running too – posting quicker 5,000m times than Mo Farah did as a junior. He was crowned senior British 10,000m champion back in 2018 and finished 14th at the European Athletics Championships in Berlin that summer. Back on the triathlon front, having stepped up to Under-23s and senior level, Alex won bronze at the Weihai ITU Triathlon World Cup in China in September 2018 before claiming gold at the Cape Town Discovery Triathlon World Cup, followed by silver on his World Triathlon Series debut in Abu Dhabi, in early 2019. He also enjoyed repeated success in Great Britain’s mixed relay teams that year. This saw him take home gold from the Accenture World Triathlon Mixed Relay Series in Nottingham, as well as silver from the ITU World Triathlon Mixed Relay Series in Tokyo and the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final in Lausanne. He is a member of the UK Sport World Class Lottery Funded triathlon squad and recently finished fourth in the opening round of the World Triathlon Series in Yokohama. Each episode of the SportsAid Vault contains a themed discussion based around the guest’s own unique experiences. We talk to Alex about the value of ‘support networks’ as he highlights the ‘bigger machine’ behind his achievements. He also reflects on the support he received following the horrific mid-race crash he suffered at the Cagliari ITU Triathlon World Cup event in 2017. We find out more about Alex’s upbringing, the influence of his parents and how his first steps in triathlon preceded track and field. He looks back at his school days and how he played several other sports, including cricket and badminton, as he put the emphasis on enjoyment. He also speaks about success at junior level, not obsessing over times and records, and how ‘one result doesn’t define you.’ Alex, now 23, talks through the step up to senior level, competing against more experienced athletes and managing external expectations for both triathlon and track and field. He underlines the importance of ‘being in the moment’, why he analyses performances post-race and how process goals help him to deliver his best. He also reveals why he made the move to Newark during lockdown.

Great Britain para swimmer Louise Fiddes is the latest guest to join us on the SportsAid Vault Podcast as she shares stories and insights from her career so far! Louise, who was supported by SportsAid in 2016 and 2017, competes in the S14 classification. She first made her mark on the senior stage by winning the overall women’s title at the World Para Swimming World Series in 2018 - having claimed a trio of bronze medals in the Sheffield leg to ensure selection for the team for the World Para Swimming European Championships in Dublin. Her European debut, at just 17-years-old, saw her bring home four medals, including the SB14 100m breaststroke title and three bronzes, in the S14 200m freestyle, S14 100m butterfly and SM14 200m individual medley events. Just over a year later, Louise became a world champion at the World Para Swimming Championships in London in 2019 as she took the SB14 100m breaststroke title. The Welwyn Garden City-based swimmer also returned bronze in the S14 200m individual medley and finished fourth in the S14 200m freestyle. Louise had actually earned a call-up to the World Para Swimming Championships in Mexico City back in 2017, where she was set to make her international competition bow, but an earthquake in the host country led to a postponement being made. Each episode of the SportsAid Vault contains a themed discussion based around the guest’s own unique experiences. We talk to Louise, who has an intellectual impairment, about the importance of ‘perseverance’ as she reflects on the challenges she faced at school and how swimming boosted her confidence. She also discusses the process behind receiving her S14 classification and how she felt. We find out more about Louise’s initial introduction to swimming, her daily routine, how her intellectual impairment affects her and how she deals with fatigue. Louise, now 20, also looks ahead to the Paralympic Games in Tokyo this summer as she talks about her personal goals and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on preparations - including moving up to Manchester for four months during lockdown.

Arsenal and England defender Lotte Wubben-Moy is the latest guest to join us on the SportsAid Vault Podcast as she shares stories and insights from her career so far! Lotte recently made her Lionesses debut after impressing for the Gunners in the Women’s Super League. She joined the club’s Centre of Excellence in 2013 and stepped up to the first-team two years later - coming on as a substitute in a 2-1 win over Notts County. She made 13 appearances before moving to the University of North Carolina in 2017 to play for the North Carolina Tar Heels. During her time in the States, Lotte won the ACC regular season twice, the ACC Women’s Soccer Tournament twice and was part of a team that were two-time runners up in the NCAA Division College Cup. She studied for a major in Sports and Exercise Science with a minor in Art History. She returned to Arsenal, the club she has supported since she was a child, in September 2020. Each episode of the SportsAid Vault contains a themed discussion based around the guest’s own unique experiences. We talk to Lotte about the importance of leadership as she reflects on captaining England Under-17s at the World Cup and European Championships, and highlights the need for increased diversity and greater visibility of women in senior positions within football’s administration. We also find out more about Lotte’s upbringing and her life outside of football. She grew up in Bow, East London and went to school in Stoke Newington where she played goal defence in netball and was a long jumper and 800-metre runner. She speaks fluent Dutch as her father is from the Netherlands, and runs her own blog, called the ‘Lotte Little Things’, which she regularly updates.