Podcasts

Felicity George is the Melbourne Renegades Marketing & Brand Boss. Felicity is an elite operator, having worked at FIFA in Zurich, Arsenal Football Club, along with Tennis Australia, St. Kilda and the Western Bulldogs. Craig Hill, a co-founder of ASTN, is a key architect and engineer of Australia’s $3billion sportstech industry. Together, they ran a start-up pitch opportunity, with one successful company ultimately chosen to work with the Renegades. This is the inside story of how you win a pitch, and how you win a big client.

Credited by the Australian Financial Review as a “Visionary” behind the creation of Australia’s Venture Capital industry, Bob Beaumont has worked in finance for nearly half a century. Bob made his name in United States finance, and is the original ‘Business Angel’ in Australia. He works hand-in-hand with UC Berkeley & UCLA, helping to foster next-gen businesses. Bob helped to create ASTN, and gives us a master class in winning capital investment.

Jess Corones is Swimming Australia’s Sportstech Boss, and is Head of Sports Science for Australia’s Olympic Swim Program. Jess gives us an incredible behind-the-curtain look at the high performance that goes into the world’s best swimmers. We hear about the revolutionary Sparta 2 technology, which debuted at the Tokyo Olympics, and the machine learning helping our Aussies build to Paris 2024. And Jess talks about the human touch that’s required when applying sports data to maximise outcomes for the athletes.

While the coaches at the AIS train promising athletes, Dr. Martin Schlegel and his team train promising sportstech start-ups. Martin, a globally renowned Chemical Engineer, joined ASTN in 2016, and is Program Lead at the Australian Sports Innovation Centre of Excellence. Having just been handed the ASTN baton by founder, James Demetriou, Martin gives us the keys to business success, and some razor-sharp industry forecasting.

Karma Armani is the Sport’s Cutting Edge International Correspondent, and works in New York City with mega sports agency Sportfive. Karma gives us a deep insight in to the latest in women’s sport and sportstech, including a recent study showing that women’s sport could be a better bet than men’s sport, when it comes to economic decision-making. Karma also shares strategies for females facing cyber-bullying.

European sport is world-renowned for its prestige and tradition. European sportstech is “old school and cautious”, which is a positive, that helps refine and sharpen decision-making, according to Sam Westberg. Sam is CEO of LaSource- a B2B sportstech agency based in Paris, helping to shape the future of sport and entertainment. Sam is clever, modest and speaks his mind- giving us a great insight into the state of sportstech in Europe.

The biggest week in Aussie sportstech kicks-off just days away in Olympic City, Brisbane on August 30. The Australian Sports Innovation Week includes a master class, start-up & investor day, field tours and partner workshops. The two headline acts are the Sports Tech World Series and the Australian New Zealand Sports Tech Awards. Johann Odou is co-founder of the Sports Tech World Series- the largest global sporstech conference series in the world. Johann joins us to preview the week, and reflect on his time in sportstech.

Rick Burton is the former marketing boss for the US Olympic Committee and Miller Lite, and has worked with the NHL, Nike, Visa and Fedex. He also ran Australia’s National Basketball League, and is a Professor at Syracuse University, in New York. Rick is now North America Chief for Playbk Sports- a company creating new digital information and engagement commodities for clubs and leagues. Rick gives us the game plan of how Australian sport can harness rapidly evolving technology to grow global brands.

James Demetriou is one of the great success stories of modern Australia. The first generation Aussie became the first person of Hellenic background to represent the Essendon Football Club in the VFL/AFL, in 1975. After footy, James carved out a grand career in law, commerce, sport, governance and innovation. In 2012, James founded the Australian Sport Technologies Network, as a mechanism to grow Aussie sportstech companies, and help propel them on to the world stage. In that time, James and ASTN have helped take a $250 million industry, and turn it in to a $3 billion phenom. This is the story of James Demetriou, and ASTN.

Steven Gatt is Chief Operating Officer of Netball Victoria, co-founder of Sports Accounting Australia, and a Director of the Sports Excellence Scholarship Fund. Steve takes us on Netball Victoria’s journey of big sportstech decision-making. He tells us how tech has the power to connect the vast netballing community. We also discuss how the Sports Excellence Scholarship Fund is providing more equality of opportunity for Aussies to make their sporting dreams come true.

When Pete Hull’s international Motocross career was cut short by injury, he channelled his flair and energy in to building a functional fitness gym. He started in a “small tin shed” in Brisbane, and pre-covid had built a 22-strong gym franchise. When covid hit, Pete Hull seized the day with a rapid tech intervention that saw his business explode. Fitstop now have more than 80 gyms, and they’re sizing-up the Northern Hemisphere.

Sarah Wall is a three-times National Championship-winning Netballer. Sarah founded NETFIT Netball as a means to community-build, empower girls and women, and increase healthy living and netball participation. NETFIT powered through Covid with the aid of elite sportstech, and now caters to more than 100,000 people across more than 60 nations.

Ken Lee and Daman Foy are co-founders of Playcasta, a company pioneering Metaverse technology in Australia. Playcasta are tech creators of the State of Origin Metaverse revolution, with Queensland Rugby League’s ‘Ultimate Queenslander NFT’. On the eve of the NFT’s first exclusive drop we talk to the people behind this cutting edge sportstech.

From grassroots through to the elite level, there is a referee and umpire crisis in Australian sport. On the eve of this Aussie Rules season, there was a shortage of 6,000 local umpires across the country. Refbook has stepped-up at this dire time to provide cutting edge tech solutions. Joining us on the show is Australian and international basketball referee Jon Chapman, who co-founded Refbook, and helped create its referee and umpire management software. Jon also gives us a great insight in to the life of a sports official.

In a Sport’s Cutting Edge exclusive, we can reveal Queensland Rugby League are pioneering the Australian metaverse, with ‘The Ultimate Queenslander NFT’ for State of Origin 2022. Wally Lewis, Karl Stefanovic, Johnathan Thurston and the Stafford Brothers have all signed-on, and will be available in NFT form as legendary Queenslanders. The QRL will drop ‘The Ultimate Queenslander NFT’ on Twitter and Discord, with 10,000 tokens available July 6, and a pre-sale of 1000 exclusive tokens June 29. Exclusive fan experiences will be available across the pre-sold tokens. Ministry of Sport founder Ben Parsons is driving this QRL NFT revolution and joins us on the show!

Donna Johnson is the mastermind behind Zena Sport’s world-first female protection garment for the upper torso. Donna identified a major safety concern for women’s sport, and created the solution. She is passionate about preventing injury, enhancing safety and empowering women to participate in sport. Donna and her partner-in-crime, AFL Legend, Brad, are a dynamic wife & husband sportstech start-up, and they’re now taking on the world!

Sydney 2000 Olympic Gold Medallist Scott McGrory has one of Australian sport’s most inspiring and most heartbreaking stories to tell. As you’ll hear, this man is resilience personified. And Scott is now an Olympic commentator with the Seven Network, and he tells us the supreme role technology plays in cycling. Karma Armani returns to the show, having just completed her double-Masters in Business & Sports Administration. Karma has just landed a plum sportstech gig in New York City, and brings us the latest news from around the globe.

Jon Shepherd is an Aussie who went to the US and became a College Basketball Star, he’s since become one of the sharpest minds in education and coaching, first with the Australian Sports Commission, and then as an entrepreneur. Damian Hecker has been a leading light in Australian education and coaching for the past two decades, with Australian Sports Commission, as Netball Australia’s Coach Development Chief, and as an entrepreneur. Jon and Damo teamed-up and founded edtech business Leaders of Evolution, which became a global phenom. Now they are back with a brand-new start-up, this time in sportstech and education, Playbk Sports. The entrepreneurial pair share their story, and give great insight into a business already booming within the AFL, NBL, Winter Olympics and Special Olympics.

Kusal Goonewardena is one of the world’s leading sports physiotherapists. Kusal founded Elite Akademy at Melbourne University, he is the sports physio to Women’s Tennis Doubles star pairing Vera Zvonareva & Laura Siegemund, he is on ABC Radio National, and is a highly regarded author. Kusal is at the cutting edge of global sports physio research and tech, and he gives us a powerful insight today on the show. Ken Fretwell has turned his tech genius mind to inventing new technology for the horse-racing industry: to increase safety, reduce injury and increase performance. Ken takes us inside his StableForm workshop, and tells us about the latest tech and what’s next.

Marilou McFarlane has spent the past 30 years as a dynamic force for good in the United States of America. The all-star businesswoman has dominated sport, media and tech, and has made it her mission to help elevate and empower young girls and women. Marilou shares her insights from an incredible career, and tells us all about her company Women in Sports Tech (WiST) Simon Murphy is the acclaimed Chief Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Melbourne University, and founder of RefLIVE. His new company Trophie shows the power of tech to energise a lifeblood of the Aussie community- local sport.