Anthony Joshua and Ovie Soko among the guests on new Sky Sports podcast.
Thursday 6 February 2020 07:58, UK
Sky Sports has launched a brand new podcast for 2020, Sidelines, telling the stories that surround sport.
Hosted by London DJ Martha and UK Grime MC Big Zuu, Sidelines will look to explore and discuss the issues that come hand-in-hand with professional and grassroots sport and will talk to the people pushing the culture forward.
In a first series of six episodes Sidelines will look at mental benefits and challenges of playing sport; we'll get into how sport meets fashion, music and popular culture court-side and pitch-side as well as tackling issues such as gender bias, sexuality, racism and the democratisation of sport through gaming and Esports.
We'll be speaking to some of the biggest names in sport such as world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua as well as key, influential figures from driving the culture forward in every day sports in the UK.
This week we talk gaming and Esports with Elliot Bond from the British Esports Association and Steph Ijoma, founder of NNESAGA (a diverse UK platform for gaming, comics & anime) about the growing popularity of Esports and whether it could eventually feature in the Olympics.
This episode is dedicated to LGBTQ+ athletes. We're joined by wheelchair racer Lizzie Williams and director of the film Wonderkid, Rhys Chapman to talk about the emerging collectives and initiatives that are making movements in the queer community for sport.
We also spoke to former Everton and Wales goalkeeper, Neville Southall about being ally to people in the LGBTQ+ community and his work with young people.
This episode looks at inequalities within sports, we talk about gender equality in sport, the gender pay gap, as well as women in sport, with a particular focus on periods! Ex-pro footballer, Rosie Kmita, joined Martha and Zuu to talk about her journey in football from a young age and shone a huge light on engagement and investment in women's football.
We were also joined by Safiyyah, The Hijabi Boxer, who shares her story about overcoming a long term illness and eating disorder as she climbs the ranks of amateur boxing.
In this episode Martha and Big Zuu explore whether athletes have always been fashion icons and how courtside at basketball games is akin to being front row at a fashion shows, as this is where the drama plays out.
Joining them this week are London Lion basketball player, Sky Sports NBA Heatcheck regular and former Love Islander Ovie Soko as well as Bwalya Newton, journalist, producer, DJ and founder of women's basketball collective, Hackney Gazelles.
The first episode of Sidelines, from Sky Sports, looks at the relationship between sport and mental health.
Whether that's bringing exercise into a self-care routine, tackling performance anxiety at the highest level of pro competitions or facing the reality of an injury, founder of Run Dem Crew, Charlie Dark and boxer Anthony Joshua both joined us to explore the topic.
Listen to episode one here now or download and it and subscribe to it where you normally get your podcasts by using the links below.
Martha and Zuu introduce Sidelines with a short episode giving a flavour of what is to come over the next six weeks.
