The East London Sport podcast

We have something a little different for you this week as we explore the development of young sportspeople with Dr Richard Buscombe.  Richard is the Programme Leader for Sport and Exercise Science at the University of East London (UEL). He is a British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences accredited scientist and conducts research in sport and exercise psychology. Richard has a keen interest in tennis where he supports player development and provides coach education. The podcast explores wellbeing, the role of parents in early development, specialisation in sport and how a dual-career approach works for professional athletes.

Amy Conroy has joined the East London Phoenix to take part in the first-ever British Wheelchair Basketball Women's Premier League.  The Great Britain co-captain talks about her road to becoming a Paralympic star after battling cancer and initially being 'rubbish’ at wheelchair basketball to making it to the top of the sport with the support of her Dad, sister and teammates. Amy also shares her excitement for the new Premier League starting in January 2022. This is a game-changer for the sport, becoming the first of its kind for women's wheelchair basketball globally and the first professional para-sport league in the UK. The UEL franchise, East London Phoenix, are currently the only professional para-sport side in London, and one of only four university-based franchises joining the league.

Ali Jawad is a powerlifter who has represented ParalympicsGB at the London 2021, Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Games. The former world no.1 and two-time world record holder won a silver medal in Rio, doing so against the odds after being diagnosed with Crohn's disease in 2008. On the East London Sport podcast, Ali Jawad shares how he was initially scouted in a local gym, his powerlifting career to date and talks about his new app, Accessercise, which aims to help disabled people get fit and more active.

Few people make it to an elite level in one sport, let alone two. However, that’s exactly what Josh Ward-Hibbert did, starting as a professional tennis player, before moving on to basketball representing the London Lions and Great Britain in the 3x3. On the East London Sport podcast, Josh tells us why he chose to quit tennis for basketball, where his love for sport comes from and what he does to relax off the court.

Remember the name Chris Bowers. The aspiring Olympian and scholar on the University of East London's 'High Performance Programme', stars in this episode. Chris recently represented Team GB at the 2021 World Junior and U23 Canoe Slalom Championships in Slovenia, bring home a bronze medal. On the podcast, he shares his journey taking up canoeing aged 10 ‘just to compete with his older brother’, to becoming an international canoe slalom competitor.

This week we interviewed sprinter Jona Efoloko. Recorded just before the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games, where Jona was selected for the Team GB Men's 4x100m squad, he shares insight into this life as an athlete, studying at the University of East London and what he is looking forward to at the Tokyo games!