Alex McComb BIG & Awkward

Former pro basketball player and current entrepreneur, author, speaker, among many other titles, Dre "Dre All Day" Baldwin joins the show this week. We talk about his basketball career, his life as a young entrepreneur, one of his 27 books "Work On Your Game" (named after his brand), how others can effectively work on their game (not just sports) to achieve goals that were once just pipe dreams and much MUCH more... Music by Oaks & Bans. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bigandawkward/message

Western University men's hockey players and Black student-athletes Theo Lewis and Cordell James join the podcast during one of the biggest social movements for racial equality in recent history to discuss racism in hockey, a predominantly white sport with a culture of silence. In the discussion, Theo and Cordell share the emotions they've felt since the tragic injustices from the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and countless other Black people who have been mistreated because of the colour of their skin. The two players speak on their own first-hand experiences with racism in hockey, their reactions to the stories of racial abuse from NHLers like Akim Aliu, why more people need to be standing up for the #BlackLivesMatter movement and what needs to be done next to address racism in sports and society, understand and educate people why it's wrong, and eventually eradicate it for our future generations and much MUCH more... Article for racism in hockey will be published by The Western Gazette in the near future with all topics discussed. For more interviews on student-athletes speaking out for the Black Lives Matter movement, check out my article in The Western Gazette. Music by Oaks & Bans. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bigandawkward/message

Western Mustangs men's football defensive back Alex Salytchev speaks to the #BlackLivesMatter movement and how he's been feeling these past few weeks, his experiences with racism, his reaction to Drew Brees's tone-deaf comments about the flag and Laura Ingraham's hypocritical response, his thoughts on what everyone, including the City of London, should be doing to combat systemic and systematic racism and much MUCH more... For more interviews on the student-athletes speaking out for the Black Lives Matter movement, check out my article in The Western Gazette. Music by Oaks & Bans. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bigandawkward/message

Western women's football team quarterback/team president and neuroscience PhD candidate Olivia Ghosh-Swaby joins the podcast to discuss the #BlackLivesMatter movement, her own experiences with racism, how systemic racism has affected academia, earlier tone-deaf comments from Drew Brees and hypocrisy from Fox News anchor Laura Ingraham, the situation surrounding the 2nd-year McMaster University men's lacrosse player who posted racist tweets and much MUCH more... For more interviews on the student-athletes speaking out for the Black Lives Matter movement, check out my article in The Western Gazette. Music by Oaks & Bans. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bigandawkward/message

Western Mustangs women's volleyball alumna and current Registered Dietitian/business owner at Compete Nutrition Aja Gyimah shares her thoughts on what the #BlackLivesMatter movement means to her and why it's so important, what she believes are the next steps for everyone to fight against racial injustices that face the Black community, how Western University and the athletics department can do to help and much MUCH more... For more interviews on the student-athletes speaking out for the Black Lives Matter movement, check out my article in The Western Gazette. Music by Oaks & Bans. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bigandawkward/message

Western Mustangs running back Trey Humes joins as he speaks out against racial injustices and double-standards that the Black community has faced in the U.S., in Canada and around the world. We talk about the effect of social media and #BlackoutTuesday, his recent heated exchange on Twitter with a Western alumnus who threatened to pull his donations from Western after the school made a tweet showing solidarity with the #BlackLivesMatter movement, his thoughts on what the white community needs to do in their own daily lives to help in the fight against systemic and systematic racism and much MUCH more... For more interviews on the student-athletes speaking out for the Black Lives Matter movement, check out my article in The Western Gazette. Music by Oaks & Bans. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bigandawkward/message

Former Guelph Gryphons wide receiver Noah Johns and current Western Mustangs lacrosse player Aaron Ward join the podcast as we continue with our fourth edition of the "Athletes & Mental Health" series. Noah and Aaron talk about how they got their start in sports and how different university varsity athletics has been compared to their experience in high school. The athletes explain how much reception they got from Noah's video (can be found on his social media pages) that he posted on #BellLetsTalkDay with clips of Canadian university students talking about their journey through mental illness. We dig in to the locker room culture surrounding collision sports like football and lacrosse and how the mental health of individual athletes could be affected. Noah also speaks on his lowest moment during his fight with mental illness and the two explain why #BellLetsTalk can't be the only day where we talk about mental health and much MUCH more... Music by Oaks & Bans. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bigandawkward/message

NFL wide receiver, global innovative entrepreneur, philanthropist and international fashion model with LA Models, among other titles, Marcus Peterson joins the podcast today. We discuss his life in football, playing for both the Jacksonville Jaguars and most recently the Los Angeles Chargers. We talk about his brand, MP Motivational Apparel, and how he's used his three mantras to inspire others to be great. Marcus also speaks on his charitable efforts, raising awareness around global homelessness and his program using his brand to get more socks, which are overlooked necessities, to those in need. We finish off by talking about his time with the Chargers and what Philip Rivers is really like in the locker room and much MUCH more... Music by Oaks & Bans. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bigandawkward/message

Former Lindenwood University Lions (NCAA) and current Carleton Ravens (USports) women's hockey player Jordy Pimm joins me as we talk about her athletic career, her studies as an international relations graduate from Lindenwood and now as a philanthropy and non-profit leadership master's student at Carleton, her work on the charitable arm of the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG), her perspective on the current state of women and girls in sports and how we can improve, and much MUCH more... Music by Oaks & Bans. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bigandawkward/message

Montreal Alouettes wide receiver Chris Osei-Kusi joins as we talk shop about football, where he started, his opportunity to compete at camp with the Cleveland Browns, his new project, Switch Mentality, and much MUCH more... Music by Oaks & Bans. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bigandawkward/message

On #BellLetsTalk day, former Western University field hockey player Nakisha Slavin joins to open up about her story with sports and mental illness. We talk about her beginnings in sports, how her mental health began to affect her, how she found help through Western's Student Athlete Mental Health Initiative (SAMHI), how #BellLetsTalk has impacted the mental health community and much Much more... Music by Oaks & Bans. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, please visit the following links: http://www.samhi.ca/ https://cmha.ca/ https://www.connexontario.ca/ http://www.ospn.ca/ https://mindyourmind.ca/ https://cmhaww.ca/programs-services/skills-for-safer-living/ http://www.dcontario.org/ https://www.ementalhealth.ca/Toronto/Home/index.php?m=home https://www.teeupformentalhealth.com/get-involved https://bouncebackontario.ca/ https://www.211toronto.ca/index.jsp --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bigandawkward/message

Season 2 officially kicks off with St. Lawrence University (NCAA) sophomore quarterback and Ottawa, Ontario native Tyler Grochot as he joins me to discuss his football career, his entrepreneurial spirit, his new software company, Ilumi, and much MUCH more... Music by Oaks & Bans. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bigandawkward/message

Former Western Mustangs OUA All-Star defensive tackle Jimmy Hawley joins as he discusses his recent transition from being a highly-touted student-athlete to living the normal life. We talk about how his football journey started, the invaluable connections he's made, the weeks leading up to the decision to hang up the cleats, how it felt to share the news with family and friends and much MUCH more... Music by Oaks and Bans. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bigandawkward/message

Former Queen's University varsity football player Mitch Henselwood joins as he shares his insights on starting out as an entrepreneur, how and why he, along with his co-founder Isaac Seabrook, built Movement Innovation, an online training platform for individuals looking to maximize their physical rehabilitation and fitness, the lessons he's learned as a student athlete that he now applies to his business and much MUCH more... Music by Oaks & Bans. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bigandawkward/message

Western Mustangs swimmer and student-athlete Menley Langham joins as she opens up about her struggle with mental health, her first year of university when she resorted to self-harm and was eventually hospitalized, her growth as a young female student-athlete battling depression and anxiety, her "fall 7, rise 8" mentality and much MUCH more... --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bigandawkward/message

Western University varsity wrestling student-athlete Chris Nikolaou opens up about his battle with Bipolar disorder and how talking to people about his mental illness has allowed him to improve his mental health as a student, an athlete and as a young man. All that and much MUCH more...  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bigandawkward/message

Sir Wilfrid Laurier University women's soccer player Patty Lamanna joins for the first episode of my new series, Injuries & Adversity, as we talk about her athletic career, her ACL injury and how she has learned to deal with the physical, mental and emotional effects of being forced off of her beloved pitch for what seemed to be an eternity for the ultra-competitive athlete and much MUCH more... Music by Oaks and Bans. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bigandawkward/message

Western University student-athletes and rising artists Trey Humes and Nate Haye join as we discuss how they manage to balance their young adult lives as growing, young rappers and high performance student-athletes, playing football while also have a full class schedule. We also discussed their recent performance at their very own "Mood Festival" last night in London, ON among other talented artists and much MUCH more...  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bigandawkward/message

Edmonton Eskimos wide receiver Harry McMaster joins as we discuss his transition from being a standout student-athlete at Western University to becoming a pro athlete in the CFL and much MUCH more...  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bigandawkward/message

Western University women's football Team President and Quarterback Olivia Ghosh-Swaby joins as we discuss her Mustangs team, their sponsor Robinson Mitsubishi London and the impact they've had on the team this year, the current climate around women in sports, the future of female participation in male-dominated sports such as football and much MUCH more... --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bigandawkward/message