Katie Ormerod, Kira Rothwell and Jess Thirlby
OJ BORG 00:00:06
Hello. Welcome along to the Good Time Sports Club this is episode three. Good to have you along. I'm OJ Borg alongside me. Not Raya Hubbell this week. No, no, no. We will hear from her later on though. No, I feel we've in some ways we've traded up the glamour. We've traded up the sexiness and that is because our producer Mark Payne is in Mr. Payne. Hello Mark
MARK PAYNE 00:00:27
Hi, yeah, I don't, I don't know if the glamour is what you're going for? But if you want someone with a beard, I'm your man,
OJ BORG 00:00:32
You've got a better beard than Raya. I'll give you that on the beard stakes, you've got a better one. In every other one, and I'm not being rude to you. Mark and I don’t like to start a podcast by being rude, but yeah, she probably outs you on every other one of those.
MARK PAYNE 00:00:42
… but this week you’ll make an exception
OJ BORG 00:00:43
That's fine. But this week I’ll make an exception! On the podcast today World Cup snowboard champion Katie Ormerod, she drops in. I feel that's a double entendre that line there. She drops into the half pipe that is this show. We have a double dose of Netball England from Kira Rothwell and her national coach Jess Thirlby. We have our second contender for the Sports quiz, but can Dre Harrison for motor sport 101 take the top spot? All that to come. But first let's do the news. Antonio Felix Da Costa secured his first ever Formula E title, the Portuguese drivers secured go for it. Mark
MARK PAYNE 00:01:16
DS Techeetah
OJ BORG 00:01:17
Very good. Their third straight title in the all electric series with two races to go. The racing has been absolutely furious. I know a friend of mine was working on it. And I said, even though there were locked down, even though they're in the same circuit, it was the same races. It has been amazing to get them going again. And if you ever hear those, those cars going around, they'll blow your mind.
MARK PAYNE 00:01:36
It’s like crazy bumper cars isn’t it?
OJ BORG 00:01:43
It is you know, if they start throwing red shells around you think hang on a second here, I've seen this in a game! The FA have announced that the FA Cup will not have any replays for the first time in its history. Next year. I'm all for that. And 300-1 shot “He Knows No Fear” became the longest price winner in horse racing history. When he won a race at Leopardstown on Thursday. Um, Mark are you lucky when it comes to betting? Are you a betting man?
MARK PAYNE 00:02:04
I have come very close to winning money on multiple occasions, big money, and have always lost out on the last bet on an accumulator. Three times. I've come close to winning thousands from not very much and three times I’ve failed
OJ BORG 00:02:16
Of all my many vices, the one I've never got into was betting. Everything else I've had a good go on, but no betting is the one thing I never did. I did go to the dog track once, it was my birthday, of the 11 races, including a 12th, which was our sweepstake. I won zero. I've never won a bet in my entire life.
Let's get on to our first guest. Earlier in the week. Raya caught up with Olympic snowboarding pioneer and reigning world cup champion. That is 22 year old. Katie Ormerod
RAYA HUBBELL 00:02:53
Hey, Katie welcome to the show.
KATIE ORMEROD 00:02:55
Thanks.
RAYA HUBBELL 00:02:56
How are you?
KATIE ORMEROD 00:02:57
I'm really good thanks yeah. How are you?
RAYA HUBBELL 00:02:58
I'm great thank you. Where in the world are you as lockdown is still kind of going on, but not, and we're not really sure. Where are you? What are you doing?
KATIE ORMEROD 00:03:07
So I'm at home right now in Yorkshire with my family, I did lockdown with my family and I'm still here. So yeah, just at home right now,
RAYA HUBBELL 00:03:17
I'm really excited today Katie cause we're talking snow sports and I couldn't be more excited about that because it's kind of going back to my roots. But Katie, I've also been living in the UK for quite a long time and I have to be honest in the, in the 15 years I've been living here. I've only seen snow a handful of times.
KATIE ORMEROD 00:03:36
Really?
RAYA HUBBELL 00:03:37
So why don't you tell me how you got yourself into the sport and where your passion came from?
KATIE ORMEROD 00:03:45
Yeah. So like you said, you know, we don't have much snow in Britain, so I actually started on a dry slope. So, if anyone doesn't know what dry slope is, it's basically just, kind of like a carpet made out of plastic bristles. If you imagine like a toothbrush kind of material…
RAYA HUBBELL 00:04:04
In like a honeycomb shape, isn't it?
KATIE ORMEROD 00:04:07
That's like the dendix and that's like the real gnarly stuff, but then you've also got the snoflex which is smoother. It's it's a bit of nicer than dendix. They triangulate diamond shape one, but yeah, similar sort of thing. And yeah, I just grew up at my local dry slope in Halifax and that was all through my mum and dad. They were keen snowboarders wanting to go on a snowboarding holiday. So I actually got on skis first when I was three. So I skied for a couple of years. And then when I was five, I got my first snowboard for Christmas and just started snowboarding, absolutely fell in love with the sport straight away. And yeah, just kept going to the dry slope as much as I could after school. And it kind of just took off from there really.
RAYA HUBBELL 00:04:49
Obviously you have done other stuff to get yourself to the type of snowboarding you're doing. There was, I think a lot of gymnastics in the early days of your career, wasn't there?
KATIE ORMEROD 00:05:00
Yes. I actually started gymnastics when I was four years old. And so a year before snowboarding and throughout my whole childhood I just balanced the two sports and they went really well together, hand in hand for the strength that you gain and the spacial awareness I did both of those together.
RAYA HUBBELL 00:05:16
Yeah. I think that's where snow sports in particular have really massively changed from generation to generation. I mean, back in the day for me, it was all about the need for speed. It was breaking barriers in terms of speed. Now we've sort of done that and I feel like it's now not about speed. It's about how high you can go and “what's the next big trick that can be done?”. And that's where I think the barriers are being broken. I mean, and it sounds like you have been doing a lot of that.
KATIE ORMEROD 00:05:46
Yeah. Action sports is it's just growing hugely. It's like when I first started snowboarding, you know, there was only half pipe in the Olympics from the snowboarding side and now, you know, slopestyle and big air have been introduced in the last couple of Olympics, which is really exciting. So we've now got all three disciplines in there, which is really cool to see and growing up that was such a big thing. Cause starting snowboarding you, just did it purely for the love of the spot and then growing up and then having the opportunity to compete in the Olympics when it finally got put in, it was like, “Oh my God, this is amazing!” So yeah, it's super exciting to see where action sports is going to go. Cause it's still growing
RAYA HUBBELL 00:06:25
I heard on the grapevine that at 15 years old, you were one of the youngest females to ever do a double back flip on a snowboard…
KATIE ORMEROD 00:06:35
Yeah. Yeah. I was.
RAYA HUBBELL 00:06:36
And then after that, didn't you do a backside Double Cork 1080. Did I say that right?
KATIE ORMEROD 00:06:43
Yeah, that's right. Yeah. It's a bit of a mouth full, but yeah, that was the year after when I was 16 and that was a really big moment for me. That was probably like my breakthrough moment into the like big snowboard industry because no woman had ever done that before. It was only a male trick that had been done.
RAYA HUBBELL 00:06:58
For the sake of us mere mortals. Can you actually tell me what a backside Double Cork 1080 is?
KATIE ORMEROD 00:07:04
So you go off the jump and you're basically doing like a double somersault whilst twisting 1080 degrees. So it's kind of hard to imagine, but if you imagine like a corkscrew kind of motion whilst doing a double somersault, so yeah. You basically going upside down to while spinning around and grabbing your snowboard. So it's yeah, it's pretty wild.
RAYA HUBBELL 00:07:25
Do you land frontwards or backwards?
KATIE ORMEROD 00:07:30
So you set off normal footed, so if you goofy or regular I'm goofy and then you land goofy as well.
RAYA HUBBELL 00:07:36
Wow. Which competition were you doing when you first landed this backside Double Cork 1080. And, and then what competitions did that lead on to and how did you get on at those?
KATIE ORMEROD 00:07:46
So I actually didn't do it in competition first. It was kind of a big process and I sat down with my coach and we both decided that I could do it. So he took me off to America and they had facilities over there where they have like foam pits. So I did some into the foam pits first and they went pretty well. So then we took them to snow and it was like, I went out, it was in between doing my GCSE exams at school. So I had a really small window to get it done. We took a film crew and I literally had like, I think one and a half days to kind of do it. But it was kind of good cause I liked having that pressure, like, “okay, I've got this amount of time to do it. I want to land it”. And it just all came together and I landed it and yeah, it just went pretty crazy. All of a sudden everyone knew who I was. I started getting invites to all the big competitions. And then after that I kind of had like a breakthrough season where I got invited to everything did really well. It was, yeah, that was kind of like my breakthrough moment really. It was really cool.
RAYA HUBBELL 00:08:45
And then after the world found out that you had been able to achieve this sort marked celebration, when was it that you actually applied it him practice in competition and more importantly, did you then win?
KATIE ORMEROD 00:08:58
So I actually, I've never actually competed it yet. It was one of those. I did it and then pretty much I think a couple of months later, cause we did it straight before the summer and then my first trip back, I actually snapped my ACL in the first couple of days training. And that was when I was supposed, I was like excited to do it in competition and show the world what I could do. And then I was, I had the whole season off. So yeah, it was, it was a bit annoying. But then when I came back afterwards, that was kind of when I still got all these invites from doing the Double 10. So I then had a breakthrough season, but I didn't actually compete it in that because I’d had all that time off. So I just went back to my other tricks, but yes, I'm still waiting to get that opportunity.
RAYA HUBBELL 00:09:46
Nice. Well, I honestly can't wait to see it, but then, you say “I've gone back to my other tricks”. Those other tricks have obviously landed some huge podiums and some really, really big accolades. And you did incredibly well at the 2017 FIS ski and snowboard, Big Air competition. Tell us more about some of the big events that you've done well at and competed at?
KATIE ORMEROD 00:10:10
My best achievement was probably this season 2019/2020. I've won my first ever crystal globe, which is the winning the overall world cup slopestyle title. So that for me was like the best thing I've ever done, especially after like having a bad injury the season before so doing that was really cool. And it was also the season I got my first ever Yellow Bib - being the leader in the rankings. And I think I got, I was leading in three out of the four contests, I think. So like nearly all of them so that, yeah. I think this season I had most of my big achievements, but probably as well X Games. I got an X games medal, I think in 2018, 2017. I can't really remember what year it was, but yeah, that was again one of the big things I've always wanted because before snowboarding was in the Olympics - X Games was the one that I really wanted to get because that was the biggest comp in action sports. So I'm really glad that I've got that one as well.
RAYA HUBBELL 00:11:08
Yeah, definitely. Those are some pretty big competitions and big names that we're talking about, but let's switch our focus for one minute to your Olympic journey because that is the one competition you have yet to do. And that actually ties in a lot with what you were saying about your injuries. You've not had an easy run of it, have you?
KATIE ORMEROD 00:11:27
No, I've had quite a few injuries. Unfortunately
RAYA HUBBELL 00:11:29
Talk me through it because if I'm not mistaken, you have qualified for two Olympics, but yet to compete, is that right?
KATIE ORMEROD 00:11:35
And so I qualified for one, the first one I missed out, I think by like two spots or something so it was very close and that was in 2014 when I was, just I think 16 years old. So I missed out on that, but then put everything into going to the 2018 ones. And I got there. I think I qualified like really high up I think second place or something. And so I was going there in the best shape I've ever been in and felt like I couldn't have been more confident. My riding was on point and I was just so excited to hopefully do really well. And then it just went downhill pretty quick. And I broke my wrist on the first training day. And then the second training day, I broke my heel, like really badly broken, clean into two pieces. I ended up having to have emergency surgery in Seoul and then stay in hospital for a week over there and then flying back for another six operations in London. So it was a bit of a mess, not how I imagined my first Olympics to go. I just had to kind of see it as everything happens for a reason.
RAYA HUBBELL 00:12:39
I heard that the day that you broke your wrist, you actually had thought, “Do you know what I'm well enough to compete? I'm going to compete with the broken wrist” and then went out and did some training and then broke your heel?
KATIE ORMEROD 00:12:51
With a broken wrist. Cause it, it wasn't like it didn't need surgery or anything. It was just one of those tiny little like fracture things. So they just put it in a splint and I could still do everything with that. I took a few painkillers, it was all good and in snowboard you're not really using your hands. So I was like, “it is possible”. And a lot of people do compete with a broken wrist. It wasn't like anything crazy. So I was like, it's the Olympic games.This isn't going to stop you.
RAYA HUBBELL 00:13:18
I did the same thing in a race. I broke my wrist in a training run the day before. And when they were in hospital, they were saying you have to have it plastered and I thought, “can we not just wrap it up?” And they're like, “no, you have to have a plaster cast. The break is bad enough”. So I said, “okay fine”. So we brought my ski gloves and ski pole and we made them put the plaster in the shape of the hole to race it. So I know that feeling, but it's like you said, the Olympic games is what you've trained for. It's what you want. And you'd already missed out once. It is exactly what we're saying before we started filming. I think us extreme sport athletes have some sort of screw loose where we have zero almost respect for our own human lives. We just want to go big or go home, you know?
KATIE ORMEROD 00:12:51
Yeah, I feel like you have. I've always felt like you have to have a certain mindset to be in action sports because it is pretty crazy to anyone else who hasn't been involved in it or hasn't done it their whole life. It does seem pretty crazy to be like throwing yourself off these 90 foot jumps, doing double somersaults in the air and landing back on the snow, it's pretty wild. But I think for people like us who have like grown up doing it and love it, it's all about the love for the sport and the passion. And I couldn't imagine my life without it. Like, I absolutely love it
RAYA HUBBELL 00:14:38
Every bit of it for thrills isn't it? There's something about that high that you get when you hit that you hit a jump or you, you get in a certain place in a race it's yeah. It's that ultimate high that I think we're for us thrill seekers. Katie how, um, has your injury and COVID, which I'll move on to in a second affected, your Olympic and your competitions because, I'm sure you have your sites on 2022?
KATIE ORMEROD 00:15:06
Yeah. So in terms of the COVID situation, I actually, well, this was my comeback season from breaking my heel. I ended up having to have 18 months off and it ended up being the best season of my whole career. It just went really, really well, but getting towards the end of it was when COVID kind of appeared. So we didn't really know what was going to happen. And I was already in the lead for winning the crystal globe and we had one competition left and they ended up having to cancel it because of COVID. Because that was meant to be, I think, end of March, but really that's not too big of a problem because in the snowboarding world is always factors that go into having like a competition being cancelled, whether it's bad weather, a storm or things like that, there's always usually a contest or two cancelled. And we'd actually had an amazing run this season. Perfect weather, every competition. So to kind of only miss one at the end of the season wasn't too much of a big deal. Cause every other contest was amazing weather in good conditions and really good. But then going forward to the next Olympics, our qualifications were actually meant to start in August. So this month - that's not happening anymore. It was meant to be over in New Zealand. That was meant to be the first Olympic qualifier. And yeah, we can't even travel there even if we wanted to sort of thing. So that's having to be pushed back, I think to November or December now, somewhere else. And I've heard the first one is Beijing, but again, it's just all very up in the air, we’re just kind of playing it by ear.
RAYA HUBBELL 00:16:42
I guess you're training for each competition until such time that you're told that you can't go?
KATIE ORMEROD 00:16:47
Yeah. So that all through locked down whilst I’ve been at home, I've just been training constantly in the gym, doing little bits of like skateboarding and doing visualising of my snowboarding and doing as much kind of training as I can without being on my snowboard just because I need to be ready. I want to be as ready and as fit and healthy as possible for when the first one does come around. So I'm just hoping that things get back to normal soon, but you know, it's just really uncertain times. So yeah, just as long as I'm ready for it, then that's all.
RAYA HUBBELL 00:17:18
Yeah. How has your mindset been throughout lockdown?
KATIE ORMEROD 00:17:21
I've been really good. I told myself straight away that because when I was injured it was kind of like being in lockdown. I couldn't go anywhere. I couldn't do anything. And I found that really hard at the time. So when I knew we were going into a lockdown for quite a while, I just like set myself targets to get stronger. I turned the garage into like a little gym so I could work out every day, went running like doing as much as I could. So I was really filling up my days with exercise and fitness and training, which I loved; I’ve absolutely loved it. So now I'm feeling in the best shape ever and now that things have started to ease a bit here in the UK, I can start doing gymnastics training again - so getting my spacial awareness back, doing double somersaults. So it's been good.
RAYA HUBBELL 00:18:10
Well, Katie listen, first of all, congratulations on your world cup victory. That is just epic. We are so, so proud of you. Katie if people want to follow your journey and find out how you're getting on, where can we follow you? How can we stay in touch?
KATIE ORMEROD 00:18:27
So I'm on social media and my Instagram is at Ormerod Katie and it's the same on Twitter. And then I've got a Facebook page as well, which is Katie Ormerod UK.
RAYA HUBBELL 00: 18:36
Fabulous. Katie listen. Thank you so much for being on the show best of luck. And we will see you in 2022.
KATIE ORMEROD 00:18:47
Thank you
OJ BORG 00:18:52
Thank you Raya. See, I told you she'd be here. Now for the first time on the Good Time Sports Club we're going to feature the sport of Netball, and we're going to double dip on it as well. As more than 319,000 players turned up for a game every fortnight in England, prior to the coronavirus outbreak with its popularity also reaching record highs in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Ahead of the launch of Netball England's Rise Again campaign. We spoke to two of the national team, the Vitality Roses. We had a chin wag with head coach Jess Thirlby, but first here’s Raya catching up with England futures player Kira Rothwell
RAYA HUBBELL 00:19:23
Kira, welcome to the show.
KIRA ROTHWELL 00:19:26
Thanks for having me.
RAYA HUBBELL 00:19:27
How are you?
KIRA ROTHWELL 00:19:28
I'm good. Yeah, we've just come off our first camp yesterday. So I'm a bit sore today. Recovering from that.
RAYA HUBBELL 00:19:36
Ah, yes, the dreaded it's been so long since I've been training with my team and now I have DOMs bad.
KIRA ROTHWELL 00:19:41
Yep!
RAYA HUBBELL 00:19:42
Listen. It's really, really nice to meet you. Kira I have to be honest. I'm Canadian. So before I moved here, I pretty much knew diddly squat about Netball, but it is a sport that I have really taken to probably because it's got a lot of proximity and similarities to a sport that I grew up in love basketball, but also because it is all about embracing women in sport and female empowerment. I really, really love that. So why don't you get us started by telling us a little bit about how your Netball journey started and how you came to play for London Pulse and Vitality Roses.
KIRA ROTHWELL 00:20:29
So I've got more of an athletics background. I used to do a lot of that when I was growing up. So I did long distance running and then I went to secondary school. Everyone kind of just played Netball so I played it. I could run. So they just threw me on. I couldn't catch, couldn’t throw, couldn’t shoot. But yeah, I just gave it go. And then they put everyone forward for the County trials and I somehow got in Everyone was a bit shocked and then, I got back in the next year and no one else did and I started working hard and practising my shooting at home. I don't know why I decided I wanted to be a shooter. It's a lot of pressure. So I don't know why I've done that.
RAYA HUBBELL 00:21:06
I have it on good authority. I haven't heard of a little rumour that when you did join your Netball team at school, didn't you get selected for the B team because of maybe some mal-coordination issues that you had?
KIRA ROTHWELL 00:21:18
Yeah, in year seven, I was like, A, B, C between all the teams. Like I wasn't very good. So I wasn't even in the first team at school. And then yeah, I started practicing and then it was kind of within the space. So this was when I was about how old are you at that age? 12, maybe 13. Within the space of about a year and a half, I went from County level to England level because well, I had started late and so I guess I was just catching up. And so I went forward for my first England trial when I was 15. I didn't get in the first time. I think it was that point that I realised I saw girls getting in around me, girls. I knew. And I was like, “I can be as good as them if I start training and trying really hard.” So I started doing like 300 shots a day. I'm doing my wall work at home, weights and conditioning, everything. And then I got called back in that summer and got into the England seventeens. So yeah, that was my first time getting into England. And then since then, I've kind of just progressed up. As of a few weeks ago, I got into the England futures, which is like the senior program.
RAYA HUBBELL 00:22:30
Yeah that's right. Congratulations. That's pretty epic and that’s off the back of, I believe you having a fantastic season last year in under-21s?
KIRA ROTHWELL 00:22:41
Yeah, I had, I did have a good season when it, Oh, like on paper, it was a good season. It's always different. Like mentally in my head, I felt like the whole time I could have played so much better, but then on paper it was good. I was playing for the England A squad against New Zealand and South Africa back in January. So when they came over for the Nation's Cup and that was like incredible because I'm playing against like the best goal defence in the world who I've grown up watching, and then I'm suddenly on court against her and I'm trying to stay cool because it's such a cool moment.
RAYA HUBBELL 00:23:15
It is an incredible feeling. I did the same. I was a skier as a kid. And when I finally made the senior circuit, I was a similar age to you. And suddenly I was watching all the girls that I'd seen on, you know, Ski Sunday. How did you keep your cool under pressure? Because I'd tell you what, the first race I ever did when I was watching my idol go in front of me. I nearly pooped my pants, so I didn’t keep my cool very much. So what did you do? How did you keep your cool cause you obviously killed it?
KIRA ROTHWELL 00:23:45
I feel like over the last year, I've been trying to develop techniques to deal with that. And at the moment, what seems to work for me, if I’ve got a big game or something. I'll think of three things I know I need to work on. So like I need to, cut in front of my defender, pass with my left hand, roll off the front in the circle. Random stuff that's relevant to me. Probably no one else understands and then I can focus on them three things rather than focusing on, “Oh, I'm playing against the best goal defence in the world”. And it kind of creates a smaller picture rather than thinking about the bigger picture
RAYA HUBBELL 00:24:21
And then alongside of your international success, you've also done pretty well. I must say at the Vitality Netball super league and the squad that you play within London, um, tell me how that's been. Cause also again under-21 success and now senior team is here. Yeah?
KIRA ROTHWELL 00:24:40
It was my first season as a senior, so I didn't really know what to expect. And I, I was just keen to go along with everything and trying to please everyone. We did come bottom of the table and it was a bit of a learning curve, but then we've got a whole new squad and a new coach this year. So Sam Bird’s our coach this year. And we won three out of three this season until the season was cancelled. So we already beat last year's record in the first three games. It was just such a different team. And I’m at uni in Birmingham, which is obviously about three hours away from London. So I'm doing that commute about three times a week, but being with impulse, how it is now, with Sam and the girls that we have around us, it makes it worth it that travel because I know I'm going to get like very high quality training and coaching.
RAYA HUBBELL 00:25:30
Obviously you were travelling a lot, studying a lot and on a massive winning streak. So then COVID hit. How did everything change for you?
KIRA ROTHWELL 00:25:40
It definitely was hard at the beginning. I felt like for all athletes, it was because all you've ever known is like training hard and pushing yourself the whole time. And then suddenly that part of you is taken away, which takes a bit of getting used to, but with our club [LONDON] Pulse, they've been amazing. We've had, sessions online at 10, every single day, all through lockdown, six days a week. So I feel like I've been training harder than normal cause we never normally have that much contact time. Seeing the girls every single day, I'm now in the England camp. So I'm training with them instead.
RAYA HUBBELL 00:26:11
Now something pretty amazing also happened if I'm not mistaken. You started getting into care homes and helping elderly residents how to play Netball is, am I right?
KIRA ROTHWELL 00:26:25
Just in general at London Pulse, we've been trying to think of initiatives to reach out to the community. To raise awareness of Netball get more support and get people active basically. And then yeah, between Pulse and this group, Anchor Health nursing homes, they came up with the initiative to like bring in Super League players to run a few sessions. So I've been doing them for Pulse and the old people are so lovely. We'll be doing like movements, getting, moving, and then, with a softball, they have this net thing in the middle and try to throw it into the net and then competition between the two different nursing homes. And they're so competitive honestly! I’m trying to calm them down!
RAYA HUBBELL 00:27:15
Do you have any memories that really stand out from doing this?
KIRA ROTHWELL 00:27:19
Do you know what I loved! So I was making sure they got enough water or whatever, whilst they were doing the sessions, I'd be like, “we can have a drink break now”. and so the first time I was like, “does anyone want any water?” And then, then, the staff would come and give them drinks. And the first one I was expecting them to bring around water and they brought round strawberry mojitos for everyone. And this is like 10:00 AM in the morning. I mean I’m assuming they weren’t alcoholic, but, I thought that was, that was quite a nice nursing home. I wouldn't mind being there.
RAYA HUBBELL 00:27:51
Absolutely brilliant. It is a, netball like mojito party. Listen, it's five o'clock somewhere in the world.
KIRA ROTHWELL 00:28:00
Yeah, exactly.
RAYA HUBBELL 00:28:01
Right at the beginning of the interview you mentioned that you just finished a training camp. So I assume that lockdown is easing for you and you find yourself maybe back in proximity with your friends and training partners. Tell, tell us what's going on with the teams and your training.
KIRA ROTHWELL 00:28:19
Now we're back into the camp based program. So we've just done our first week up in Loughborough, but obviously, well, this is my first year, so I’m not sure what it was like before, but it is very different in the sense that we're in groups of six. So you can only socialise with your group of six. You live with two of them. I'm not really allowed to go into anyone else's kitchens or anything, and we're allowed to break the distancing rule very occasionally in the training environment. But again, out of the environment, you have to be two meters. Yeah, just being careful, but it's amazing to be back. We're actually back on a netball court with a netball post.
RAYA HUBBELL 00:29:02
Can you feel the return of Netball now that you're back training with teammates and players? How, how exciting is that?
KIRA ROTHWELL 00:29:10
You can probably see on my face, I know people listening can’t but, yeah, it's so exciting. Like yesterday morning we did our first, we did like a three court pattern, no defence or anything, and you're two meters apart, but it was like, “Oh my God, Netball it might be coming back in the next few months”
RAYA HUBBELL 00:29:29
If it does come back without an audience, without people watching, do you think that will affect your play as a team, without hearing the crowds cheering, without having that something to spur you on? Or do you think it would be easier to communicate with your team and run strategies better?
KIRA ROTHWELL 00:29:49
Well, everyone always talks about if you're at home, it's obviously a huge advantage because you've got the crowd behind you. Say it's a really close match and there's two goals in it and you've got your home side cheering you on. It makes it mentally easier because you're like, I need to do it for them. I need to do it for my team. It's easy enough to communicate with your team on court anyway, like you have eye signals and everything. So I don't think it will affect that too much.
RAYA HUBBELL 00:30:14
I always think that without the crowd, if you've done something wrong, it's much easier to hear your coach yelling at you. Which always I found a bit disturbing.
KIRA ROTHWELL 00:30:24
Hmmm, that’s very true. I never hear my coach talking at me when I'm playing, which is probably a bad thing. They probably have to scream “KIRA!”
RAYA HUBBELL 00:30:35
Maybe we'll, we'll cut this bit out. Cause you might find yourself a big trouble having just said that.
KIRA ROTHWELL 00:30:41
Yeah
RAYA HUBBELL 00:30:42
Listen, it's so great to speak to you. If anyone wants to stay in touch and follow your journey, can they get in touch with you on social media? How can we, how can we follow you?
KIRA ROTHWELL 00:30:53
Yeah. Instagram's really the best. It's just my name. Kira_Rothwell
RAYA HUBBELL 00:30:57
I have to be honest. I had a little Instagram stalk and I have got to tell you, I think you're a pretty impressive baker.
KIRA ROTHWELL 00:31:07
Thanks.
RAYA HUBBELL 00:31:08
If you don't know of Kira, you've never heard of her before, go on to Instagram, check out her page. You should see this cake. I have no idea how you ….
KIRA ROTHWELL 00:31:15
It took me 8 hours honestly, I'm not really a baker. This once you've started, you can't really stop because the cake's baked. I now need to decorate it
RAYA HUBBELL 00:31:25
…And then once you've decorated it, you have to boast about it. And then once you boasted by, you must eat it all because have no one else to share it with
KIRA ROTHWELL 00:31:33
Oh it all got eaten
RAYA HUBBELL 00:31:36
Listen, Kira best of luck. We really hope that we see the return of Netball very soon. And thank you so much for joining us today.
KIRA ROTHWELL 00:31:44
Thank you for having me.
OJ BORG 00:31:53
Thank you Raya. I don't want to get all Star Wars about this, but from apprentice to master it's time to welcome Jess Thirlby to the Good Time Sports Club. She's won the Vitality Super League with Bath. She's represented England as a player at every level from under 16 to the senior squad and is now the new head coach of England's national team, the vitality roses, what a journey.
JESS THIRLBY 00:32:13
I know it does feel a bit strange, especially kind of going full circle from, I guess in 1995, I was in England under 16 selling programs at the world championships to think that I could and will be heading back there for the Commonwealth games in a couple of years time as, as the Vitality Rose’s Head Coach is definitely full circle.
OJ BORG 00:32:37
You became the head coach after the World Cup in July. How have you found your first year in charge?
JESS THIRLBY 00:32:42
Yeah it almost feels like two years in one really. It’s quite strange because I hit the ground running obviously off the back of an incredible World Cup campaign and obviously home in Liverpool. So the momentum behind the sport was brilliant, a real energy across the country for Netball. Obviously a big change in terms of a new head coach coming in and a lot of plans already in place, both in terms of the squad that had already been selected and also the fact that we had a big team builder to kickstart the year up in the Lake District. So I pretty much met the team and then before I knew it was in a wetsuit and needed to jump into open water, which is a big fear of mine. So yeah, as first impressions go, it was certainly an interesting time. But I wouldn't change any of that. And then there was already a plan towards Australia, New Zealand for what was kind of, I guess, that next layer of players. In the absence of some of our World Cup stars who were either taking some time out or mainly needing some rest and recovery. So we jumped over there for quite a long tour, actually with quite a new player group. And then we hit the ground again and went over to South Africa and managed to win our first away series as an England team since 2013, which isn't a bad way to kind of start the role and to do it with. Going into extra time in my first ever match as head coach wasn't necessarily something, I don't know what I expected, but yeah, it's definitely made it memorable this first year from from an on court point of view. And as you say, you know, we then had the Nation's Cup in January, and I was really looking forward to watching all of these players out in their Super League teams and performing. [I] went to the opener for the Super League, which was fantastic in Birmingham; a sellout crowd, which was incredible again for our sport. And all of a sudden it kind of just came to a halt. And I think looking back now, you know, we were joking last week as we, we entered our camp based program in Loughborough that lock down has obviously felt like such a long and challenging time, but as soon as we walked back in here and we kind of reconnected as a group, so much of it felt familiar and comfortable and safe and it's where everyone wants to be. And there's a real gratitude, I guess, across the group for, for just enabling ourselves and working within those government guidelines to return.
OJ BORG 00:35:03
So your last competitive matches were back in January on home soil at the Nation's Cup. How did that go for you?
JESS THIRLBY 00:35:08
We came third. So we beat South Africa on both occasions during that tournament. We lost to Jamaica and New Zealand, but I felt that we were, we were really competitive, I think, against New Zealand, you know, the world champions. So they're coming, they came here on a high but what was pleasing for me is we exposed kind of a whole new group of athletes to play and against those three nations in very quick succession. I'm very early in my tenure as well. So I'm actually really grateful that we had so much exposure, and exposure so soon into the role in rather than wait, and even more so now knowing where we are. If we hadn't have had as much competition so soon in the autumn and leading into January, you know, I'd most probably be more concerned. But the fact we can look back and we've had some of that exposure already, I guess, helps at the moment whilst we're trying to navigate our way through and establish what our international calendar can look like through COVID.
OJ BORG 00:36:05
And you mentioned the elephant in the room there. How have you and the team stayed in touch during lockdown? Has it been zoom calls and the like?
JESS THIRLBY 00:36:12
If you ask the players I've most probably stayed in touch too much! I think in all seriousness, they would have been moving into their kind of club environments and they'd be playing their domestic league. So we wouldn't, as a Roses program, have too much contact time with them in terms of face to face during that period, I certainly would have been at matches. I'd have been there to support that those player groups and behind the scenes as a staff group, we would. We would have been spending a lot of our time planning for the next couple of years as we lead into Birmingham and Cape Town. But I think very quickly, you know, given the pressure on those clubs as well and the ambiguity and uncertainty as to what was going to happen to Super League for a number of months that the clubs were brilliant in terms of being able to still facilitate sessions and stay connected with their teams. But what we quickly did was step in as a wider staff group and a sports science team to make sure that we were adding value in supporting both the athletes and the clubs with their physical conditioning and maintenance at the start, because we didn't know so early on whether or not we would be re-commencing in any way shape or form the Super League. And then when things became clear that suddenly, you know, Super League may not be able to come back on the table - contracts periods were most probably coming to a close when Super League would have naturally ended and we've made our selection for the next cycle. Then we kind of the reigns handed over to us a little bit. Towards the end of May, beginning of June, we picked up where the clubs had left off and did a bit of a handover and they very much come under our support now. So yeah, I'm one for connection. And I very quickly realised that it's not really for me working through a screen. I don't think it is for any coach, but we found our way, so we're all good, but it's nice to be back physically with the players over the last couple of years.
OJ BORG 00:38:07
And what's it been like now that you're physically back in training?
JESS THIRLBY 00:38:11
Never before has it been so easy to coach because they're so grateful for the most simplest of things. So we're quite restricted in terms of what we can do, but I'm trying to be as creative as I can with how we can still operate and get real purpose out of any session that we're doing at the moment. Obviously our main focus is around the physical adaptations back onto core and without kind of going into too much detail, like understanding how we can start to reload the legs and tendons and how they're responding to that. So that the Netball piece has to take a little bit of a back seat in terms of I'm not adding any unnecessary pressure on them to be expert performers right now. It would be really inappropriate to do that, but making sure they feel as safe as they can in this environment and psychologically they're in a good place. And yeah, it's, you know, just picking a ball up and putting them into some practices. They literally think they're playing Netball and it wasn't that easy before. So I hope they remember that in another few months time,
OJ BORG 00:39:06
We heard a little bit earlier from care about the massive, inspirational Rise Again campaign Netball England are running. Could you tell us just a little bit more?
JESS THIRLBY 00:39:14
As you say, it's pretty inspiring stuff. I think. Having worked pretty much daily with both the wider organisation on how Netball can get back both bigger and stronger. I think the Rise Again campaign is a combination of the efforts that the Sports have gone to and continue to go to, to consider how we can accelerate Netball coming back at both community and at the elite level. We obviously have to follow slightly different guidelines for so the organisation have been fantastic and our membership is so important. Not it's not purely a financial stability, but obviously that's really significant. So the people that love our sport, who I guess are the, the bedrock of enabling us to do what we do are our members. And over the last four or five months, I've certainly tried to help where I can to contribute towards giving value to our members, making sure that they, to still feel connected to the Netball community. Whether that be through never seen before interviews or providing sessions online. I know that there's been like a campaign, like where any dream will do and people can have like one off experiences with a player or a Roses coach and I think hopefully, you know, that's gone some way to replace the, the void of, of not being able to get out on a court. And whilst we appreciate the frustrations of our community level Netball is that they haven't yet been able to get out on a court, our government's submission went in a couple of weeks ago. And I think we're, we're literally on the cusp of hopefully being able to return back to court in some way, shape or form. So that in theory, you know, this Rise Again campaign is, is a way to enable people to re-sign for their membership, either at the full rate or a discounted rate for those that have suffered any financial hardship, but show their commitment and pledge, you know, their membership fee in order that we can Rise Again. And yeah, I think it's, it's an outstanding piece of work by the organisation, but fundamentally it's made by the passion of our, of our members that we hope we can one day, you know, welcome back into an arena and for an international match and give them the thanks that they will deserve.
OJ BORG 00:41:25
Finally your next big certain goal on the horizon is defending the team's title at the 2022 Commonwealth games in Birmingham.
JESS THIRLBY 00:41:34
Yeah, we're certainly kind of heading towards that obviously in a very privileged position and the first ever England team to go is reigning gold medallists, so no pressure or anything. But yeah, what coach doesn't enjoy a bit of pressure. We talk very much about the gratitude that we have that we've got not only the opportunity to go as the reigning gold medallists, but also in another home event, a multi-sport event. And for those that may or may not kind of make the team have an experience of Liverpool, I think, yeah. I think everyone's really excited and it will come around very quick. In particular given the circumstances we're operating in at the minute, as soon as we're out of this and back on an international court, you know, our sights turn very quickly to Birmingham and beyond and Cape town the year after for our World Cup. So yeah, it's exciting. And I'm sure time will fly. No doubt.
OJ BORG 00:42:41
All right. It's quiz time now. So who is our second contender to see how well they're doing… and that is Dre Harrison, Dre, how are you?
DRE HARRISON 00:42:48
Very well? How are you guys doing?
OJ BORG 00:42:50
All right. Thank you very much. All right, from Motorsports 101, what is on the podcast this week? I take it you're excited. Cause racing is sort of back pretty much.
DRE HARRISON 00:42:54
I mean, motorsport has been, if anything, like a little bit slow on the wagon to come back, but we are now pretty much running in full. Formula One got a little bit lucky we did have a quite famous positive case in Sergio Perez about a week or so ago, but luckily he's not coming back negative. He's rejoined the bubble. So yeah, most likely I'm like we've prepared a little bit of catch up with some of our episodes because we're in the middle of a busy switch over to YouTube, we're gonna binge release about five episodes, together at once a bit like Netflix in that sense, basically catching us up through the early goings of the season so far. So that would be the two Austria races, MotoGP’s return, Mark Marquez’s shock injury on two wheels, et cetera. So a lot to catch up with, but most likely next week will be the Spanish grand prix this weekend in Catalunya. I'm assuming we don't get another sudden outbreak because hey, you never know these days. But hopefully fingers crossed nothing too crazy,
OJ BORG 00:44:00
Which of the many Motorsports has handled coming back after the coronavirus outbreak the best?
DRE HARRISON 00:44:04
I would say probably somewhere between Formula One and MotoGP. Formula One for the most part has done something like 30,000 tests since coming back last month. And only, one positive test since then, and even then you can make the case that Checo was a bit naughty in that, not only did he fly back to Mexico, where there was a bit of an increase in cases out there, but allegedly he also went to the Sardinia in between the two races. So it was a little bit naughty and he was largely criticised on social media for that. MotoGP I think have one alleged positive case as well, but generally speaking Motorsport has handled this about as one as it could have in the grand scheme of things.
OJ BORG 00:44:50
When everyone wears a mask, If you're out racing, you're wearing a mask. I just want to get your thoughts on it before we get into the quiz, because I've spoken to a few friends of mine who are motorsports fans, and I've spoken to friends of mine who are e-sports fans, what was your thought on during the lockdown when there was no racing - What did you think of the virtual race?
DRE HARRISON 00:45:06
I thought it was a great idea. I mean, I fought the E-sports guys out there. They saw a big opportunity to take advantage of the fact everybody was at home. The amount of people that, you know, suddenly had picked up rigs, the amount of celebrities that had picked up rigs. And then, you know, they're able to get big short term audiences in .Guys like Liam Payne out of One Direction, Sergio Aguero over at Manchester city, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Arsenal, um, over in the world of football, you know, for like again big motor sport names, Jenson Button, Dario Franchitti, Chris Hoy, it goes on and on and on. It was a big, big opportunity for these E-sports guys. And the reason itself was fun. That was a little bit of confusion from some rounds about what they wanted their series to be wherever we want it to be an uber competitive series or just something that was going to be a bit of a laugh on certain games consoles. But for the most part, I'm think it was excellent, a bit of opportunism from some E-sports folks out there to take advantage of a once in a lifetime sort of situation. And I think they handled it very, very well.
OJ BORG 00:46:08
Make hay while the sun does not shine. Right, are you ready for the quiz then Dre?
DRE HARRISON 00:46:11
Yes, sir.
OJ BORG 00:46:13
Okay. How is your Sports knowledge across the previous week?
DRE HARRISON 00:46:18
I'd like to think it's okay. I do like to keep up with my sport across the board. So fingers crossed I'll be higher up the leaderboard, but I've got a reputation to uphold, right?
OJ BORG 00:46:27
And then will you keep that reputation front and center? Here we go. First question, which racing series concluded this week with six consecutive races in Berlin?
DRE HARRISON 00:46:36
Formula E
OJ BORG 00:46:27
If you’d got that wrong that would have been a terrible start
DRE HARRISON 00:46:39
I know right
OJ BORG 00:46:41
In football the remaining games in the UEFA Champions League will take place in which European City?
DRE HARRISON 00:46:45
Lisbon
OJ BORG 00:46:47
A pair of trainers worn by which international superstar were sold this week for £460,000?
DRE HARRISON 00:46:56
Well, I'm going to take a guess and say Kobe Bryant maybe?
OJ BORG 00:46:59
Right sport. Wrong person. It was Michael Jordan. Which outspoken star claimed he'd have to lose an arm and a leg to fall outside the top 50 in his sport’s World Rankings?
DRE HARRISON 00:47:09
That would be snookers Ronnie O’Sullivan
OJ BORG 00:47:11
Oh man. I love the rocket. We were joined by Kira Rothwell and Jess Thirlby from England Netball’s Vitality Roses today, but just how many players are there on a Netball team?
DRE HARRISON 00:47:27
Seven?
OJ BORG 00:47:28
Seven is correct. If you've never played netball it's a great game. Which swimmer celebrated three goals and three world records this week, 12 years ago at the Beijing Olympics?
DRE HARRISON 00:47:35
Michael Phelps
OJ BORG 00:47:37
Indeed. Correct. Practice is underway at the Indy 500, but who is the reigning champion?
DRE HARRISON 00:47:44
Oh gosh. Oh gosh. It’s a motor sport question I can’t and get this wrong. Oh, come on. Who won last year. It's going to come to me. Simon Pagenaud
OJ BORG 00:47:56
Is correct. George Kittle became the NFL’s highest paid tight end this week, but which team does he play for?
DRE HARRISON 00:48:02
San Francisco 49ers.
OJ BORG 00:47:04
Do you think when you become an adult, you don't laugh at the word tight end?
DRE HARRISON 00:48:09
Wrong
OJ BORG 00:48:10
Which rider won his first MotoGP race this week in Brno?
DRE HARRISON 00:48:14
That'd be South Africa's Brad Binder.
OJ BORG 00:48:17
Final question. Correct obviously. Final question, Monaco plays host to which athletics event this weekend, the third in the league elite series?
DRE HARRISON 00:48:25
Is it the Diamond League athletics?
OJ BORG 00:48:29
It was the Diamond League. Congratulations, Catherine Whitaker last week from the Tennis Podcast scored eight. You scored nine.
DRE HARRISON 00:48:37
I'll take that.
OJ BORG 00:48:38
I think that's right. Even better. Dre? You've got both of the motorsport questions right, all three even. If you played along while you were listening, wherever you were, whether you're driving along, obviously don't text while you're driving or you listen to it on the train and let us know how you did #GTSC quiz. Dre, it's been an absolute pleasure, mate. What do you hope for the rest of this year? When it comes to motor sports?
DRE HARRISON 00:49:02
Just a bit more competition. I think wouldn't hurt anything else. I mean, again, in the two wheel world of MotoGP Mark Marquez has been out for a good chunk of the season is absolutely opened it out there with Brad Binder winning his first race last week, that was a massive deal for the sport. On four wheels. We've got Max Verstappen who won the 75th anniversary round three for Red Bull, that was a nice surprise. It's been nice to maybe not necessarily have a Mercedes in black winning every other weekend whether or not that be Hamilton or Bottas winning every other weekend. So a little bit more competition, a little bit more unpredictability. Wouldn't go amiss.
OJ BORG 00:49:35
Dre, good man. It's been great to have you on.
DRE HARRISON 00:49:38
Thank you man
OJ BORG 00:49:39
I look forward to the next episode of Motorsport 101. Cheers Buddy.
DRE HARRISON 00:49:41
Cheers man
OJ BORG 00:49:45
Mr. Payne. We're done. We're done. Mr. Payne. How sported out are you right now?
MARK PAYNE 00:49:52
Uh, not so much sported out but the lack of sleep and the buildup to the recording, I can do without that?
OJ BORG 00:49:59
Sleep’s for losers. I wish I was a loser. Um, that's it we're done. We hope you've enjoyed your time at the Good Time Sports Club if you have, why not give us a follow on your social media of choice and a five star review, wherever you get your podcasts, that would make a massive difference. It means more people can find us and join in as well. And that's what we want. We want to grow the Good Time Sports Club in the meantime, if you want to get in contact, you can find us on social media, drop us a message to search for Good Time Sports Club on Instagram and Twitter. As always thank you very much to our guests for taking time out: Katie Ormerod, Jess Thirlby, Kira Rothwell and Dre Harrison. And I do have a slight question for you just before we end it. Mark you like cycling as well as I do.
MARK PAYNE 00:49:59
Hit me
OJ BORG 00:50:35
How excited were you to see the start of racing again of the calendar of this insane, insane end of the season we’ve got?
MARK PAYNE 00:50:45
It's been something that I didn't realise just quite how much I missed seeing people struggling their way up a hill. As a slightly tubby, six foot three, man who can't go up that can’t go up a hill on a bike very well. Watching people struggle at an elite level. It just makes me feel a little bit more wholesome rather than getting my sweat on in a Zwift ride in my back room with all the fans on. It's just not the same is it?
OJ BORG 00:51:09
You see, I can top you there because I'm six foot four and slightly tubby, and don't go up hill quickly. And also I did a Zwift race the other day without a fan at the end of it, I've never felt as bad. I slid off the bike and had to be rolled into the kid's paddling pool. I lay there, just to try and calm down. Anyway, the reason I mentioned this is not to talk about me sweating or falling into the kid's paddling port is because next week on the Good Time Sports Club we have a winner of the Tour de France. He's an all around good egg. He's an Olympic champion as well. That is Geraint Thomas. I struggle saying his first name has been picked up a few times before Welsh people have sent me stuff in the past telling me I can't say it. So instead I'll just say G. G Thomas will be on the Good Time Sports Club next week. Good Time Sports Club is a Shocked Giraffe production was presented by me. OJ Borg are Raya Hubbell and for one week only Mr. Payne himself, the show was produced by Mark Payne with additional production support by James Watkins until next week, bye!.
