Those of us that love sport, live it and breathe it. We feel it. It reaches deep down into our body and soul, and elicits every emotion imaginable: from despair to elation, from vulnerability to anger. Whether we’re playing sport, coaching it, watching it, listening to it, or reading about it, our emotions drive our every response and relentlessly keep us coming back for more.
This is a podcast that explores twelve key emotions with some stellar sporting names, and uncovers just how those feelings affected their careers, both as a motivation, and as a limitation. It is a journey into the emotional psyche of some Britain’s most talented, most successful, most articulate sportsmen and women.
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RUNNING ON EMOTION is an Auddy Production – researched, written, produced and hosted by Alastair Eykyn.
#runningonemotion
Special thanks to all of our guests on the show.
Host: Alastair Eykyn
Series Producer: Andrew Sampson
Sound Editor: Norman Goodman
Album Art: Nicole Stewart
Theme Music: Audio Networks
Running on Emotion – Episode Five, Annabel Croft
Annabel is one of Britain’s best loved tennis presenters, and a former British Number One who carried all before her as a junior player. At the age of 18, she won the Junior titles at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon, and she reached the 3rd round of the main draw at SW19 in the same year. She was considered to be the brightest of British tennis prospects, reaching a career high world ranking of 24. Annabel quit tennis at the age of just 21, at times crippled by fear on court. She describes moments of hyper-ventilation during matches and of a mental freeze that afflicted her, and left her unable to perform. The pressures and strains of expectation, and the loneliness of life on the tennis tour as a young girl took their toll. She sought help from many quarters, including a hypnotherapist. But the fear wouldn’t subside and the unhappiness of tennis competition forced her to call time, many years before she might have reached her peak.
