What a year. Got married and was granted a small fund from social entrepreneurial charity UnLtd. This helped launch the first edition of Leisure Kicks.
The ill-fated David Beckham academy launched next to The O2 and we managed to get an interview with him. This marked the first major athlete interview we had done and it raised Leisure Kicks’ profile.
Regrets? Yes! Being offered the chance to interview Usain Bolt in Jamaica. We didn’t have the budget back then for flights, accommodation and photo shoots but, looking back, what a trip that would have been…
Oh what a feeling and what a night. Witnessing and experiencing that surreal and memorable 44-minutes where Jessica Ennis-Hill, Greg Rutherford and Mo Farah brought 3 gold medals home.
Leisure Kicks was profiling younger athletes like Laura Trott, Max Whitlock and Adam Peaty and it felt like a change was coming. LK also welcomed some big-hitters to our design and editorial that year.
Covid-19 crippled British sport. Matches with no fans, events called off and funding being stripped back. Home schooling three kids felt just as bad! But LK managed to speak to the likes of Joe Wicks and Marcus Rashford who all stepped up at the right time.
New sports were making their debuts at the Tokyo Games and Leisure Kicks was lucky enough to meet some of the inspirational people behind the new pathways to the podium: in breakdancing, surfing and skateboarding.
The Lionesses did the
one thing the nation was desperate for… winning
a major European trophy on home soil, and this was one
of Leisure Kicks’ standout cover stories – women’s football journeys meeting Leah Williamson and Ella Toone.
