Welcome to the Finale of Making The Podium's Series 2! We've been offered 9 incredible stories and viewpoints, and it's time to look back at the best tales and insights. Returning from our previous series review, Topodium Group's Ryan Grimshaw & Charlotte Owen weigh in on the storytelling, product innovation, and outlooks on Nature vs Nurture that we've heard throughout the series. This episode covers: Our highlights from the 9 fantastic episodes of Series 2An overview of the diverse...

Offering superlative experiences to families at health clubs demands the ability to make every experience truly magical, a fact Stephanie Holland channels from her time on Disney Cruises. Taking forward many key tenets that helped to ‘preserve the magic’, Stephanie’s work at David Lloyd clubs is revolutionising their spa offerings and approach to activities for kids and families. Join us on Making The Podium to learn how Disney’s ‘guest recovery’ turns complaints into advocates, why it’s...

From setting up football teams aged just 14, you’ll struggle to find a more passionate lover of the game than Neil Cassar, who became the youngest county FA CEO when he took the role with the Hampshire FA in 2006. The scale and growth of the organisation, with its nation-leading facilities and touchpoints with local stakeholders, is in large part due to Neil’s ability to keep community and sustainability at the heart of everything they do. With his innovative mindset, this episode of Making...

The parallels between sport and business run deep and broad, and with experience as a goalkeeper and business founder alike, Skye Eddy combines the best of both worlds. Spurred on with entrepreneurial pursuits by those around her at an early age, it’s fitting that Skye would go on to create Soccer Parenting, a community that’s quite literally changing the game around youth football coaching in the US. Hear why the growth mindset of a goalkeeper is perfect for progress, how Skye’s season in...

When Chris Rees created a feasibility project for a college assignment, it was the humble seed that’s grown into ReesLeisure, where he’s running events for thousands and raising millions for charity. From the Southampton Marathon to the innovatively named and inclusive ‘Try Tri’, Chris’ prerogative has been to benefit an expanding community with his network of sporting events, involving a city-wide community in an emphatic celebration of the area. Listen to this week’s Making The Podium for...

Very few brand names have been able to hack attention like Fun With Balls. Starting life as a mixed reality console backed on Kickstarter, the company now titled LYMB.iO are accelerating the gamification of sports with their truly unique and innovative experience. Founder & CEO of LYMB.iO Markos Kern joins Chris this week to break down their ‘ballsy’ approach to marketing & how it all starts with an incredible product, as well as dealing with the complexity of pitching something...

Creating clubs suitable for the whole family, with no membership and based in dedicated, quality facilities makes perfect sense, yet it’s a space with untapped potential... Enter ‘GetSetGo!’. With a background in swimming and 12 years as MD of Swimming Rocks under her belt, ‘GetSetGo!’ Co-Founder Claire Harrison is taking ambitious steps to bring an innovative offering to the family activity space in London. Claire joins Chris on this week’s Making The Podium to share the challenging route to...

Health & fitness can be an intimidating world, with terminology and practices that hold clubs back from the kind of retention they’re capable of. Perhaps it’s time to reposition what a health club can do for customers uninterested in the gym itself… Preaching the innovative idea of a Health Seeker Membership, GGFit’s Director Guy Griffiths sees our sector as a vital asset with the potential to ease up the NHS, and tap in to the 70% of the population who say they want to be more active. We...

Welcome back to Making The Podium, where we’re kicking off an exciting, NEW SERIES of the fortnightly podcast for ambitious, bold and daring business owners at the cutting edge of innovation in sports, health & fitness, and wellness. Who better to join us for one of two exciting episodes kicking off Series 2 than a man whose employment history includes a pop group, modelling, a lengthy appearance on Love Island, and now leading a personalised, online fitness coaching brand: Empower by...

Welcome back to Making The Podium, where we’re kicking off an exciting, NEW SERIES of the fortnightly podcast for ambitious, bold and daring business owners at the cutting edge of innovation in sports, health & fitness, and wellness. We’re kicking off Series 2 with a man whose positive influence on the sport, health and fitness sectors as CEO of ‘ukactive’ is outweighed only by his passion for getting people more active - Huw Edwards. Having contributed his talents to London 2012 and the...

Welcome to Series 2 of  Making The Podium - a fortnightly podcast for ambitious, bold & daring business owners, entrepreneurs and marketing professionals who want to be at the cutting edge of innovation in the sports, health & wellbeing industries. After an exciting, intriguing, and jam-packed first season of insights from the industry’s leading innovators, we’re proud to announce the return of Making The Podium.  We’ll be building on the first season’s inspirational guests and their...

In this short bonus episode of Making the Podium, host and founder of Topodium Group, Chris Sharman updates us all on an exciting new episode coming up, a reminder of the top guests we had in series one, and what you can expect from series two! Links and references at: https://topodiumgroup.com/podcast/

This season of Making The Podium has seen us interview some of the FitTech industry’s leading innovators and brightest minds to help us see what makes them tick. From homegrown companies to Israel and New Zealand’s emerging businesses, these episodes have exposed us to the future of FitTech, and it seems only fitting to wrap up the series with a look at the top takeaways and pertinent points that have stuck with us. For the series finale, Chris is joined by Topodium Group’s very own Ryan...

For parents, those working with children, or childcare professionals, the benefits of sporting activities for kids are plentiful and profound, and there’s never been a more important time for the industry to recover than now.  With a massive pent-up demand for kids sport, leading wraparound care provider Junior Adventures are gearing up for a year to help the industry as a whole bounce back. Junior Adventures Group’s COO, Craig Jones, joins Chris Sharman on Making the Podium, to share the...

2020 saw an 80% growth in demand for fitness apps, cementing FitTech as a compelling space to enter. Making the connections to do so can be an intimidating task, one that Natalia Karbasova has been helping countless businesses to achieve as Founder of the FitTech Summit.  With a vision of a future that combines preventative health benefits with unique fitness solutions, Natalia joins us on Making The Podium to share the value she places on storytelling in business, how to find the right...

It may come as a surprise to many that one of the key tools for today’s top athletes started life as a smart children’s toy. However, BlazePod’s shift away from kids fitness and into serving various sports from football to F1 has unlocked a valuable...

From a local, high demand class for toddlers to scooping up the Global Franchise Champion award last year, the meteoric rise of Little Kickers is one of international development and incredible demand from franchisees-to-be. Leading this impressive...

Women’s sport is rightfully receiving increased support in recent years, much of this can be attributed to the incredible work of Women’s Sport Trust - a charity committed to increasing the profile of female athletes. Not only are they a force for good,...

We were delighted to be joined by Paul Bowman, CEO of Wexer - a provider of digital solutions for gym-goers to access workouts anywhere, anytime. Sharing lessons and tips from his time in Virgin Active and Gymbox, Paul joins Topodium Group’s Co-Founder...

Suffering a sudden illness that keeps you housebound for over half a decade is a truly life-altering event. To bounce back from it to create a community around cooking the recipes that catalysed an incredible recovery shows true determination,...

At first glance, the concept of single-handedly increasing footfall to a shopping centre by 22% is a daunting prospect. Compound that with the strategy to entice people to “go trampolining by accident”, and you’ll confuse many entrepreneurs. But...

What better way to kick off the podcast than taking a look at the revolutionary technology that’s bringing boutique fitness beyond the four walls behind which they’re traditionally confined. ALFI, the titular AI behind the avatar-led fitness app Refine...

Welcome to "Making the Podium" - a fortnightly podcast for ambitious, bold & daring business owners, entrepreneurs and marketing professionals who want to be at the cutting edge of innovation in the sports, health & wellbeing industries. With...