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Not by the PlaybookAuthor: BBC World Service
Inspirational stories from around the world. Interviews with people defying the odds. Discover Not by the Playbook - the podcast which seeks out the most incredible stories from sportspeople and athletes. We bring you interviews with the sporting heroes who have achieved success in the face of seemingly impossible challenges.Formerly known as Sportshour, Not by the Playbook is brought to you by the BBC, the world's most trusted international news provider.Tune in to hear from some of the most famous names in sport on subjects you've never heard them discuss before. You don't have to be an Olympic gold champion to have an extraordinary story we also scour the globe for inspiring individuals who make a difference through sport.Whether youre a football or soccer fan, tennis lover, golf aficionado or cricket addict, or even if you're not a sports fan at all, youll find inspiration in the stories of resilience, determination, and discipline. Expect insightful, honest, and thought-provoking conversations from people who live and breathe sport.Listen to Not by the Playbook on the BBC World Service every Saturday at 0900 GMT, or find it as a podcast wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Language: en Genres: Personal Journals, Society & Culture, Sports Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Hanging around
Friday, 12 December, 2025
Having scoured the globe for the best stories from the world of sport we've decided to just drop in and hang about. Don't you think the best and most unexpected conversations often arise from just briefly stopping by? But our guests are far from slouches, in fact they are some of the most inspiring, innovative and industrious people you could ever wish to meet!We start by dropping in on a new world record holder. Brazilian Sandro Diaz is one of those athletes whose brain seems to work slightly differently to most others, and in a most wonderful way. A skateboarder of great experience, he's 50 years old, he recently fulfilled a dream he'd had for decades. For this story it's important to learn some of the lingo ... most importantly the "drop in"... that's how you get going from the top of a ramp. You balance on the edge, shift your weight forward and off you go hurtling down the ramp on your skateboard. In competition it might be six or eight feet. That's nothing to Sandro, who has just "dropped in" from 260 feet, that's about a quarter of the way up the Empire State Building. No safety harness, no parachute, just a man, his skateboard, a ramp and very tall building in BrazilThe Olympic discipline of modern pentathlon is, well, modernising. For the LA games in 2028 running, shooting, swimming and fencing stay but OUT goes showjumping and in comes obstacle course racing to make up the five disciplines. Historically the preserve of school playgrounds or army training programmes, the Obstacle Course has been popularised in recent years by TV shows like Ninja Warriors. Britain's Mila Stanzani recently returned from the Obstacle Course World Championships with a bronze medalPremier League side Brentford is a family club, where a warm welcome is guaranteed, proved in part by a new initiative the club have got behind. Initially it was to help the mental health of the players but now it's being rolled out across the local community. It's the simplest idea of just hanging out and chatting on a park bench. Not by the Playbook's Steve Crossman has been to find out morePlus we're hanging out with Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci. An icon of Olympic sport she was just 14 years old she achieved the first ever 'perfect 10' at the Montreal Olympics of 1976. PHOTO: Sandro Dias performs during Red Bull Building Drop Project in Porto Alegre, Brazil on September 07, 2025. (CREDIT: Marcelo Maragni/Red Bull Content Pool)
