At just 24, Australian cricketer Peter Hatzoglou already has a cricketing CV to envy. The legspinner is one of the most exciting young players in the game, is a Big Bash winner, and has also had stints in the UK playing for Oval Invincibles and Glamorgan… However, his journey to the top is more unusual than most and not that long ago a career in cricket was not a reality for him. 

In fact, Peter took a break from the game in 2016 to focus on his exams and he had been trying to carve out a career in finance. Post-exams he returned to cricket, but just to play for his local village team Sunshine Heights and as recent as 2019 he was playing in the Cheshire 4th division. He was even working for KPMG as late as April last year and a professional cricketing career wasn’t really on his radar.

That all changed rapidly though and just a year after playing in the Cheshire 4th division, Peter was making his BBL debut for Melbourne Renegades and receiving praise from cricketing royalty such as the late, great Shane Warne. A year after that and he won the competition with the Perth Scorchers and he's now a well-renowned figure in Australian cricket. It’s a remarkable rise from village cricket to BBL champion in the space of five years. 

It was great to speak to Peter and hear about his incredible story and all the lessons he’s learned along the way - such as the importance of persistence, resilience and adaptability to change. He also speaks about the wisdom he received from Shane Warne who convinced Peter to come over to the UK and play some club cricket - which ultimately was the catalyst for him getting a Hundred contract with Oval Invincibles. 

There's so much to learn from Peter's story and we loved chatting to him. We hope you get as much out of the episode as we did.

Paul McGinley was an elite golfer in his own right - reaching the lofty heights of top 20 in the world at one stage. However, Paul is perhaps best known for his success in team competitions, notably the Ryder Cup in which he played integral roles in 2002 when he sunk the winning putt and in 2014 when he captained Europe to victory. During this episode, Paul explains why he performed so well in team competitions, as well as his philosophy as captain of Europe’s victorious 2014 Ryder Cup side and how he got the best out of his players. 

In this episode we discuss:

• Reframing challenges into opportunities
• Tailoring leadership approach for each individual
• Taking influence from Sir Alex Ferguson
• Delivering clear messages as a leader
• Creating a fun team environment
• What made the great Ryder Cup players so good
• Predictions for 2023 Ryder Cup
• McIlory’s recent form

TOM BOSWORTH | Taking The First Step | Out Now

In the latest episode of the podcast, we talk to two-time Olympic Race Walker, Tom Bosworth, who provides some of the most powerful insights we’ve had on the series to date.

During the conversation, we cover:

- Captaining Team England and Winning Silver at the Commonwealth Games
- Walking a mile quicker than anyone in history
- How the first step is often the hardest part of achieving anything
- Tips to manage our mental health
- Becoming the first openly gay British track and field athlete 
- Bouncing back from suicidal thoughts and depression
- How we can improve and harness our own self-belief

Amy Williams was propelled to stardom in 2010 after winning Britain’s first individual gold medal at the Winter Olympic Games in 30 years. Having only started Skeleton Racing at 19 years old, eight years prior to the Games, Amy’s story is one of dreaming big and following an ambition with focus and disciplined day-to-day habits. The topics we cover in this episode are: 

- How a lack of resources can often be your biggest unfair advantage 

- The importance of consistently getting your thoughts down on paper

- How true enjoyment of your craft leads you to unlocking your potential

- Controlling the controllables 

- How discipline is more important than motivation 

- The moment Amy knew she’d won Gold

Amy has written about all of her experiences and learnings in a book called Talent to Triumph, and we highly recommend it. Check out more of Amy's work at https://www.amywilliams.com/. 

Ever since the Lionesses completed that historic Euros victory in the summer, we’ve wanted to get someone involved in the England set up on the podcast - and having played many times for the U23 national side, Anna Patten is in a perfect position to explain the current state of play in the women’s game and how the Euros success has given a real opportunity for even further growth. 

Everyone was swept up by Lioness fever in the summer and the whole nation was captivated by the on-pitch successes of the team and their incredible off-pitch personalities, so it was great to get an even better insight into that team from Anna.

Anna is one of the rising stars in the women’s game and is currently on-loan at Aston Villa from Arsenal. She has worked closely with the likes of England and Arsenal stars such as Leah Williamson and Jill Scott and so has seen first-hand how the profiles of women’s footballers have grown rapidly in recent years with strong media interest, growing attendances and major sponsorship and broadcast deals now coming into the game. It’s an exciting time for the women’s game, and at just 23 years old, Anna is going to be at the forefront of it all… 

Listen to this episode to hear Anna discuss the legacy of the Lionesses as well as her own career, motivations and ambitions.

Tony Stanger is a Scottish rugby legend - playing 52 times for Scotland and, up until very recently, holding the nation's record for total tries scored. Post-rugby, Tony became an author, a coach and a business owner with his high performance consultancy named ‘Stanger Pro’. In this episode we cover: 

- Scoring Scotland’s most famous try

- Leadership lessons from Sir Ian McGeechan

- The importance of not tying one’s identity to their levels of success

- Why parents are the most important element of youth development 

- How asking honest questions can lead to high performance

Anna Hemmings is a six-time world champion, two-time Olympian and now a world-class keynote speaker and performance consultant.

Anna’s sporting career can be summed up as not only one of elite high-performance but also one of consistent success against the odds. Initially, this was proving the British Head Coach wrong – who had told her when younger that she was not big or strong enough to ever compete at the highest level of her sport. Later on in her journey, she would overcome an even bigger hurdle. At the peak of her career, Anna was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and told by doctors that she would never race again.

In 2005, after two years of being kept out of kayaking, Anna made a miraculous return to fitness and won at the World Championships in Perth, taking her back to the top of her sport. Not surprisingly, her incredible efforts were recognised at the Sunday Times Sports Woman of the Year awards later that year, where she won the Champions award.

Through all these experiences, Anna has become an expert in the field of high performance and resilience. As the founding director of Beyond the Barriers - a high performance consultancy that helps individuals and teams – Anna travels the world delivering lessons in leadership to a range of teams in the corporate world. 

Anna has also appeared on Steven Bartlett's Diary of a CEO, and, as two huge fans of that podcast, when we saw Anna on there we knew we had to get in touch. We loved having a similar conversation on the importance of connection, on how powerful a tool visualisation is and how understanding your true motivators can lead you to success.

Christian is a former rugby player for England, British Lions & London Wasps. At 27 though, despite being one of the highest Premiership try scorers of all time, Christian took up a new challenge by becoming part of the NFL International Player Programme, securing a place on the Buffalo Bills squad & ultimately scoring a touchdown with his first competitive touch of a football.

During the podcast, Christian talks about various mindsets, approaches and mental techniques he used during his career. The most notable of which was a mental shift he went through halfway through his career. When starting out on his rugby journey, Christian had moulded his training and his lifestyle all in pursuit of his ultimate goal - to play for England. However, when the call-ups did not come – much to the bemusement of many rugby fans - Christian said a negative mindset crept in, which then led to a period of change.

From this point, Christian searched to evaluate what success meant to him, and why he was doing what he was doing. With the burden of the constant search of an England place removed from his shoulders, he was able to entertain, flourish and show people the extreme natural talent he had. As a result, opportunities opened up for him, like a two-year stint in the NFL and the opportunity to blaze a trail for English athletes wanting to make it Stateside.

Fans among you will know that Christian is currently on the lookout for his next opportunity and challenge, and in our podcast he reveals what attracts him to the different leagues. For the first time in a broadcast interview, he reveals there have been offers, from an interesting mix of clubs around the world.

It was an incredible experience speaking to someone who is constantly looking to push the boundaries of what he can achieve, someone who has done things differently to many of those around him and someone who was not afraid to sacrifice a position of comfort in pursuit of the unknown.

This episode also marks the start of the new season for the podcast – we’ve got lots of interesting guests coming up and we can't wait to release some of the conversations