Welcome to the Sportish Podcast
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Why Sportish Podcast
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book.
It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book.
You might know Jimmy Rees from his work on ABC’s Giggle and Hoot, or more recently, for his pandemic level comedy. So it should be no surprise that in his other roles; dad of 3 boys, sideline parent and u8 basketball coach, Jimmy knows what the biggest priority should be when it comes to sport: fun!
Navigating a family that supported two rival AFL clubs and becoming an ‘old man basketball’ player in his 30s, Jimmy understands that sport gives communities the opportunity to come together and cheer for something bigger than themselves.
From observing parents on the sidelines with blistering accuracy to reflecting on what’s best to say in the car after a game, Jimmy has an ability to remind us to not take this sporting life too seriously.
Katie Walker isn’t a household name, but she’s absolutely the coach we would run through a brick wall for.
A former Queensland Firebirds netball player and assistant coach, Katie understands the importance of just getting started, moving your body and why you have to suck at something before you can be any good. She’s a mum of 4 sporty kids who's molding the current crop of junior netballers and at the same time, getting women who thought sport was long in their past to find community (and strength!) through exercise.
In a world dominated by hustle culture, optimisation and internet noise, author Brad Stulberg is sure of one thing – that we're going to crave things that make us feel alive. Like sport. Odds are, you’re already feeling it....
Brad Stulberg is a performance coach and bestselling author. His books on excellence have become essential reading for world-record holders and championship coaches alike. But Brad isn’t here to sell you “hustle culture”. His messages are simple, fundamental, and available to all of us.
Maggie Dent is the person you want on speed dial when your household hits chaos o'clock. Turns out her secret weapon isn't a parenting hack, it's sport.
Universally known and loved for the warm, practical advice she shares with Australian parents, Maggie also has a sporty side. A basketball fanatic from way back, she appreciated early on that sport was as much about connection as it was about the scores, and used it actively to manage a household of 4 boys and classrooms full of kids.
As families struggle with an increasingly digital world (it's not just us, right?), Maggie believes it's never been more important for us to use sport to connect with communities in real life and find some "peak moments of joy". And she absolutely has some thoughts on what parents can do RIGHT NOW to get big and little kids off devices and outdoors playing.
You know Adam Hills as the legendary host of Spicks and Specks and The Last Leg, but his off-screen sporting life is an absolute ride.
A lightbulb moment at the Beijing 2008 Paralympics, mixed with inherited tennis genes and a diehard devotion to the Rabbitohs, sent Adam’s athletic career in an unexpected direction.
Imagine regularly enduring a four-hour return commute for a 90-minute session of local footy...and literally RSVPing "no" to King Charles’ 70th birthday party because it clashed with your weekly training.
From breaking down barriers on global TV, to conquering the world in para-standing tennis, Adam treats sport exactly as it should be treated - as a place where you belong.
Want to get some behind the scenes on who we've spoken to, and why, and how two guests set off every heart monitoring watch the Libby wears?
Come join us for a sneak preview of what (and WHO!) to excpect in this series...
Whether you're finding your way back to sport or working out how to manage the after-school sport chaos (tell us we’re not alone?!), EVERYONE has a place in sport—and we’re here to help you thrive in yours.
We’ve teamed back up with the Australian Sports Commission to bring more stories, tips, and inspiration to help you and your family keep the joy of sport alive. You’ll hear from Australia’s favourite parenting author Maggie Dent on how sport has never been more important in this digital age. Understand the mindset of comedian Adam Hills when he turned down the King so he could go to rugby league training. Discover what Turia Pitt thinks about when she’s out running (and how she teaches thousands of Aussie women to join her on the road). Plus, you’ll join the Jimmy Rees (aka Jimmy Giggle) school of coaching kid’s basketball.
Big names. Big laughs. Big honesty. Join us for another series of Sportish full of practical tips and real strategies the whole family can use to move more and really enjoy sport.
Do you know the story of how parkrun ended up in Australia? Or that dogs used to be registered to run? Or that Australia has made it our own? Neither did we until we caught up with parkrun Australian's founder, Tim Oberg. Tim was the person who brought largest free running activity to Australia and grew it to what it is today. And now he's ready to help kids find a love of moving their body through the RAD Run Club.
The ABC and Deakin University recently released the findings of a survey of elite female athletes and the results say a lot about the work still to be done in women's sport. In some parts, there seems to be progress. In others, the results are grim. Regardless, we wanted to bring in the ABC's Deputy Editor Amanda Shalala to unpack the numbers for us and remind us why these sorts of surveys are so important in the women's sport landscape.
Brisbane City Council is the 2nd biggest council in the southern hemisphere and part of the team pulling together one of the largest sporting events in the world, Brisbane 2032. And you know how much we're into the Olympics. Soooo, this week we asked Brisbane's Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner to drop into the studio and talk to us about how we involve kids in parks and what legacy we can expect from Brisbane 2032. Not from Brisbane? DOESN'T MATTER. If you have a council, you need to listen.
It's been a while since it's just been us on the mics so we wanted to take a minute to give the Sporties (who have sent so much love) a full update on what's been going with Libby's health. PLUS we wrap up of our Play Well season with the Australian Sports Commission (do you have a favourite? Don't make us choose!), unpack the gambling reforms coming to sports match near you and discuss the two Sportish things we learnt this week. Join us!
It’s round one of the AFL season in 1999. 28,000 fans pack the Sydney Cricket Ground as a fresh-faced Adam Goodes runs out for his first game with the Sydney Swans. You probably know what came next. What you haven’t heard before is this side of Adam Goodes - a busy dad of four, giving an insight on how he’s constantly finding new ways to enjoy staying active every day. Adam shares the few simple rules he lives by to keep balance in a full-on family life, and how protecting his energy has become the key to showing up at home.
Saturday sport can bring out the best in our kids… and the loudest in us. One minute they’re chasing the ball, the next they’re sitting in the grass making daisy chains. As a sideline parent, something in us flicks. Suddenly we’re “just giving tips” at a volume the entire suburb can hear. Gen Muir is a parenting educator and mum of four boys. She shares her top tips on how you can support your kids without hijacking their game – right down to what you could say in the car on the drive home.
Kieren Perkins knows what it takes to win (Atlanta 96, 1500m, ICONIC), but he’s far more interested in whether Australians are still playing sport at all. As an Olympic champion and now CEO of the Australian Sports Commission, Kieren is urging us to be a nation of “doers” rather than just “watchers”. If you want kids to love sport for life, it starts with participation, curiosity, and showing up.
For Rana Hussain, cricket gave a sense of belonging. But in fact organised sport wasn’t really set-up for her. Whether it was the non-inclusive uniforms, the lack of knowledge of cultural expectations, or simply the lack of diversity in the food offered at sports clubs, Rana felt locked out of sport. Today, Rana’s changing that. As founder of Good Human, she’s helped sporting organisations like Cricket Australia and various football clubs build spaces that are inclusive, welcoming, and community focused.
Before sport was graded, scored and analysed... what did you love to play? Not just do, but actually, play?
That feeling of joy, curiosity and being completely immersed in something is known as the 'play state'. Mindset coach Ben Crowe says most of us leave it behind far too early. As sport becomes organised, measured, and outcome-driven, we change from playing for love to playing for approval.
Swimmer Ellie Cole has spent most of her life adapting. Losing her leg aged three meant learning how to move differently, think differently, and push through moments most kids never face. That early resilience didn’t just make her a Paralympian - it shaped how she sees sport and who gets to take part in it.
As a kid growing up in the suburbs of Melbourne, sport was the soundtrack for Hugh van Cuylenburg’s childhood. That deep, visceral connection to sport looks different since Hugh founded The Resilience Project, but the lessons of sport continue to inform every aspect of his life.
“I experienced shocking burnout. I wouldn’t have got through it all without track. There’s no way. I feel like [sport is] almost petrol. I feel when my tank is empty. I go the track and I fill up and go; I’m good now,” he says.
And the broader opportunity for sport? To be the place where neurodiverse, or people with a disability, or just the less talented can also be involved.
Imagine walking out in front of 15,000 people, taking a deep breath, smiling and thinking: “How cool is this?” That was Ash Barty on centre court… and she still chose to leave while at the top of her game.
Ash shares her insights into what really sits behind those trophies: the brutal Wimbledon loss that sent her back to the drawing board, the conversation with her coach that flipped her mindset, and the “why not me?” question she now shares with kids.
Hello Sporties. Did you listen to the trailer? Are you as excited as we are?! Well, before the first episode of the new season of Sportish comes out next week, we have a little treat for you. We wanted to bring you behind the scenes and have a quick gasbag about some of the amazing guests you'll hear from this season and the things that happened on (and off) the mic. Tune in!
Have you seen it all on the sidelines? Cheered the wins. Felt the losses. Sat through missed selections. Heard the “I don’t want to go anymore.”
If you’re an amateur athlete, a coach, a parent, or a volunteer — this new season of Sportish is for you.
All the Opening Ceremony vibes, including Libby's last Mariah reference point (R&B Fridays). Of course we watched Lindsey Vonn and had thoughts on her 41 year old Olympic campaign. And we give a shout out to a VERY deserving Mid Week Hall Of Fame. Come join us!
Libby has had the most awkward interaction with an international cricket star and we've nearly died. Georgie's become a sports reporter on the sidelines of softball, Libby has thoughts on Coco Gauff and just how special is a winter or summer Olympics and Paralympics (just a bit more than your regular football season thank you very much!). Tune in!
Sporties! We are back and do we have CHATS for you. Are there 2 many influencers at the tennis? Should Netflix be encouraging a man to scale a skyscrapper without a rope? And how do we feel about the new Scotty James documentary on Netflix. Rest assured, we are refreshed, we are ready for the kids to go back to school and WE HAVE THOUGHTS.
We've all been the worst of on a team (yes, even our resident Olympian). And through that process, we learnt oh so much. Here's a snippet from a chat we had a couple of years ago with our non-sporty mate, Rebecca Sparrow, all about what we learnt when we found ourselves to be the worst on a team.
We hear it so often - where are kids supposed to go when they just want to the play sport for fun? Once you get to 18+, there are a HUGE amount of social sport opportunities. But well before that, once the Auskicks and the Net Set Go stops, and the grading begins, where are kids who aren't competitive meant to play? This is a chat we had with tween and teen educator and author Rebecca Sparrow a couple of years ago about the need for kids to have social sport options.
Some Saturdays you may be on the sidelines of kids sport and wonder if you've accidentally turned up to the AFL Grand Final. Or the Super Netball GF. Or even game 5 of the Ashes. Because the level of parent involvement is just, well, INTENSE. Be it yelling, taunting, or even having a crack at the ref, parent behaviour is a real issue in kids sport. This is part of a chat we had with tween and teen educator and author Rebecca Sparrow, about the sidelines of kids sport and how we can all make little changes that make a big difference.
It's Christmas holidays and while we may not know what day it is we certainly know this - as one year closes we ALWAYS start thinking about what next year might bring. And central to that is the how of getting things done. Be it sport, exercise or movement (or anything else for that matter!) understanding how motivation works is crucial. We hope you enjoy this chat we had with Rebecca Sparrow from a couple of years ago - between the 3 us of we have elite, community and reluctant sports particpation all covered!
The McLaren Team has lost their minds and we are wondering whether Max is actually the 3rd Papaya Driver. Paralympic swimming superstar Rowan Crothers joins us to talk about the upcoming social media ban PLUS Georgie revisits her softball spirital home and Libby is in her happy place after the 3rd week of the Sportish Swimming Club.
We don't know how to feel about the hot hot mess that is the Sky Sports Halo TikTok account - definitely giving "pink it and shrink it vibes" but is everyone also just a bit angry? Former Aussie Diamond and Queensland Firebird Gretel Bueta joins us to talk about the hottest new netball comp - Fire5 - happening on the Gold Coast this weekend. Plus we went for a 2km swim last Friday and have now we've decided that you guys should join us!