Ollie Pope headlines return of mental health podcast
The Original Penguin x CALM podcast, Under The Surface, has returned for its fifth series with England cricketer Ollie Pope as its first guest.
The podcast, which explores mental health in sport and wider culture, aims to break the stigma around speaking out. The new series has launched, with two further episodes planned for later this year.
Hosted by Adam Smith, the podcast was created and is produced by sports marketing agency Pangaea 13, in partnership with the clothing brand and the mental health charity Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM). Previous series have featured guests including Sir Bradley Wiggins, Jack Wilshere and Romesh Ranganathan.
In the episode, the former England vice-captain discusses the pressures of international cricket and his career setbacks.
Ollie Pope, said, “I was seeing things online and thinking that every fan in England thinks I’m useless, and I felt like I was very disliked. The last Ashes series away was one of the worst experiences ever – I never thought I would play for England again. Cricket is a numbers game, and my numbers against Australia just haven’t been good enough. I own the fact that I wasn’t good enough back then, and I even played my last Ashes Test with a dislocated shoulder.”
