This Sporting Wife

Commonwealth Games gold medalist and Olympic boxer Shelley Watts sat down with Shannon and Fiona and told them how she first got into the sport seven years. After a dodgy tackle playing soccer ruined her knee, doing some training and sparring with a friend has led to 78 fights with 63 wins and a true love for the sport has grown. She discusses the current trend of footballers trying their hand at fighting, the difference between amateur and professional boxing and why she probably wouldn’t go pro, and why she thinks her sport needs to maintain some integrity. Outside the ring you’ll find her active on Twitter (@Shelley_Watts) where she’s a strong supporter of women’s sport, rabid follower of all sport and one half of @Strong_Chicks with Collingwood and Australia netballer, plus her good friend, Sharni Layton. Shelley Watts is a powerful voice in sport and in Australia who is fighting for her fairytale, which is now focused towards the Comm Games on the Gold Coast in 2018.

Andrew Gaze (Sydney Kings coach and former NBL, NBA and Boomers rep) talks his incredible career with Shannon and Fiona. From growing up around basketball courts all the way to being a five-time Olympian, basketball has always been in his life. He talks family, including the influence his parents, especially his dad - a basketballer and Olympian too - have had on his life, and how he's coping being away from his own family while in Sydney with the Kings. His playing days took him all over the world but some of his fondest memories were where he's spending most of his time these days, at Sydney Olympic Park during the 2000 Games.

Prepare to hear an incredible story. Shannon sat down with Kath Koschel, a former cricketer who has had just about everything life can throw at you hit her in just her short 29 years. Cricket has always been her passion and she made it all the way to her state debut but just a few matches in a back injury sent her lift hurtling down a different path that led to her reaching a point where she was hours from having her leg amputated. Kath talks through that experience and what happened after with the rehab, meeting the love of her life, losing him, breaking her back again and how she pulled it all together to start on a journey to starting the not-for-profit Kindness Factory - an organisation that is actively and tangibly trying to make the world a better place by being nicer to each other. You’ll look at things in a completely different way after hearing Kath’s story.

Former rugby league player and coach Matthew Elliott sat down with Shannon and Fiona to discuss his life in football and what he has learnt as a person since finishing coaching in 2014. After 61 first grade games with St George and coaching stints at Bradford, Canberra, Penrith and the Warriors, he’s picked up a thing or two about people, how to manage them and how to get the best out of them. He went through some soul-searching after being sacked by the Warriors and applies those realisations today to his high performance work in sports and the corporate world. He reflects on life growing up in Townsville and the skills he picked up playing park footy there as a kid, plus he talks family, travel and the mental health issues in sport and Australia in general, especially among men.

Johanna Griggs (Better Homes and Gardens, House Rules) kindly allowed Shannon and Fiona into her house just before Christmas to talk about her swimming career in which she represented Australia in backstroke as a teenager and her transition into the media world. She’s continued to set records there - from her initial offers, to learning on the job in hosting the Aus Open coverage for 17 years, to being the first female to solo host a winter Olympic coverage at Torino in 2002. The girls get her to rattle off a few Australian Open favourite moments and she tells Shannon how she keeps track of all the house and lifestyle shows she’s done. On top of all that, Joh talks about the charities she’s a part of and talks about how her illness at the end of her swimming career made her a stronger person. PLUS! Joh tells the girls about her family and the support they’ve offered her, especially her kick-arse mum, and the epic planning that goes into the Griggs family Christmas day.

Conceived in April, launched in October and finishing the first season in December. This Sporting Wife's first year has been amazing. We have had guests from all areas of the sporting world from players to coaches, administrators to journalists. This week, we have picked some of our favorite bits, and to give the girls a week off, Joshua Craig, the producer of the podcast, is presenting.   This week we have highlights from: Lisa Sthalekar Raelene Castle Ken Sutcliffe Tyler Wright Sally Shipard Trent Copeland

Conceived in April, launched in October and finishing the first season in December. This Sporting Wife's first year has been amazing. We have had guests from all areas of the sporting world from players to coaches, administrators to journalists. This week, we have picked some of our favorite bits, and to give the girls a week off, Joshua Craig, the producer of the podcast, is presenting.   We have highlights from:   Rob Shehadie Daniel Kowalski Alicia Quirk Paul Wade Margie McDonald   Listen and enjoy.

Merry Christmas everyone! What a year 2016 has been, for us and in the sports world. We sat down over some homemade gingerbread and reflected on the year that was - the year of the underdog! We talked our highlights, the Olympics, favourite Christmas songs and movies, all the important stuff.

NSW Breakers cricketer - and complete life overachiever - Trent Copeland gets into the nitty gritty of cricket - the absolute mental toughness a player needs; his career path from country cricketer to debuting for Australia at the SCG; the grand scale of success that exists in the game; the current playing crop and state of Aussie cricket; and why he had to stop wearing the gloves. He talks about Phillip Hughes’s death and how it’s affected him and other players as a person and a player and how their instincts are now more welfare-first. Plus there’s fantasy sports - especially the American leagues, his efforts as a teen to play every sport he could, coaching kids and the obstacles his marriage to netballer Kim Green faces as they both manage their playing schedules. He studies, trains, plays, coaches, commentates! But don’t try to take him on in anything, he’s ultra-competitive and you’d probably go down!

In his final week as Channel 9 sports editor with him retiring from his regular on-air duties, Ken Sutcliffe sat down with Shannon and Fiona in the place where he's spent the past 37 years of his broadcasting career to talk the greatest sports moments and athletes he's witnessed. He talks work ethic to succeed, family, how he began and what lies ahead for him - including travel and whether he'll be bugging his wife! He says he's always strived to operate with class in his work and even placed loyalty above his own personal gain. And in our opinion, that's shown. Ken has been at Augusta, Wimbledon, Olympics - summer and winter - Comm Games, Origins, grand finals… if it was a sports events, he was probably there and we try to cover as much as we can before he departs our TV screens!

State, national and WBBL cricketer Lisa Sthalekar talks to Shannon and Fiona about her career and all she has achieved so far as a player and a coach, plus goes into her move into the commentary box and her ambitions to break the glass ceiling there. They talk Olympics, touring Dubai, the slog of training - especially in the heat - as well as the current state of cricket and the success of the WBBL and how it shapes as season two is on the verge of getting underway.

Comedian Rob Shehadie (Here Come The Habibs!, Fat Pizza, Housos) joins Shannon and Fiona and tells them how he kinda fell into comedy by being in the ‘right place at the right time’. That was when his rugby career came to an early end because of injury. The Australian Schoolboy dissects his pet peeves in rugby union and rugby league today and what he’d change; gives a look into his bag of tricks to work up a league crowd; and talks through the toughness of union. He explains what it was like feeling like an outsider during his schoolboy rep rugby days and addresses the claims the Habibs was racist before it went to air. Plus, why is there so much trust when it comes to passing a footy and what’s his favourite bra?

Newly crowned 2016 surfing world champion Tyler Wright squeezed Shannon and Fiona into her busy schedule to discuss her title and what happened in the time from when she decided she wanted the crown to taking it out in France mid-October 2016. Does she have her world champion tattoo yet? She describes how the Tour is like one big family these days and how things changed for everyone in water after Mick Fanning’s shark attack. And she gets into the nitty gritty of surfing - what’s the difference between competitive surfing and creative art she calls it; what makes the perfect wave; and what techniques did she start applying to her training and mentality to take her to the level to be best in the world.

Sports journalist for The Australian newspaper Margie McDonald spoke with Shannon and Fiona earlier in 2016 about her life and career, which includes covering 10 straight Paralympic Games and being the first female journalist to go on a Wallabies tour - where she quickly realised why no woman had done it before. She talks about some of the fascinating experiences the Paralympics have exposed her to, and how she pretty much fell into sports journalism during a time when it truly was a man’s world and some of the issues that can arise being a female sports scribe. The women discuss Margie’s sports bucket list, whether Serena Williams will be the best and swap notes on badminton. Plus Margie explains how a broken coccyx took her to playing with a glow in the dark frisbee in the headlights of a Datsun 1200 and why she thinks men should see tits early.

Former Matilda Sally Shipard (Canberra United 2009-14; 59 caps Australia 2004-11) speaks with Shannon and Fiona about the highlights of her football career and how hard it is to transition from an elite sports career to post-competing life. She reads of the ‘Motivational, inspirational and sensational” moments from her Athens Olympics diary (when she was 16 years old) and the impact a character like swimming’s Laurie Lawrence can have on the entire national Olympic team. Shipard tells the girls why a walnut farm in Germany and woman named Barbara “saved her life” and how she would be keen to have a role helping young athletes prepare for retirement from sport. But despite some tough times since retiring, she’s preparing to launch Marry Us Sal, her marriage celebrant service, which one day soon will be able to marry same sex couples too - we all hope!

Canterbury-Bankstown rugby league club CEO Raelene Castle spoke to Shannon and Fiona during the season about what she does to unwind and switch off from her hectic schedule, her super talented sporting family - including herself - and how she came full circle when she took over the top job at the Bulldogs. She dabbled in the corporate world, but sport is where she feels most at home… and watch out, she could shark you at a pub or club.

Olympic swimmer and self-confessed sports nut Daniel Kowalski (1996 Atlanta & Sydney 2000 Games) talks to Shannon and Fiona about his time competing with and against names like Kieran Perkins, Grant Hackett, Michael Klim and Ian Thorpe. His medals in the 200m, 400m and 1500m freestyle events at Atlanta made him the first man to do so in 92 years, but he says it was hard to celebrate at the time and reflects on the ‘circus’ at that time around Perkins trying to qualify for the 1500 final. The general manager of the Australian Swimmers’ Association believes more could be done to help athletes transition into retirement and gives an honest account of his own battles with depression and an eating disorder during his life. Daniel talks about the work he’s been doing in recent years to raise awareness around homophobia. Plus, he explains what key skills he was missing to pursue an Ironman career.

Former Socceroos captain Paul Wade (118 Australia caps, 345 NSL games, '88 Seoul Olympics campaign, 2 World Cup campaigns) joins Shannon and Fiona to talk about family, football and overcoming adversity. He tells the girls why marking Maradona isn’t his career highlight, why his nickname was ‘Westgate’ and that being a homebody meant he never had a desire to chase a professional career overseas. He opens up about his epilepsy and the brain surgery he underwent to manage it and how he copes and manages that in his life and career now, including the spoonerisms he’s mastered to exercise his memory.

Shannon and Fiona headed out to the Narrabeen headquarters of the Australian Rugby Sevens program to chat with gold medallists Shannon Parry and Alicia Quirk with head coach Tim Walsh. They found out about the values that have driven the team to success over the past three years, what they got up to in Rio and who’s the brains trust of the team. Shannon and Alicia told of how they first got into rugby and what it was like heading into that gold medal match and in the aftermath. Plus, they all try to figure out what the keys to Brisbane city will open for Shannon. Shannon Parry is the co-captain of the women’s sevens side. She has played for Australia in 15s and Sevens and was a member of the Wallaroos 2010 and 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup sides - captaining the side in 2014. She was named in World Rugby’s team of the season following the 2015-16 series. Alicia Quirk was a touch football Australian representative before being recruited to the rugby sevens program. She played every minute at the Rio Olympics an