Track & Ball with Ellen White and Richard Whitehead

Being Ronnie O'Sullivan

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Episode notes

What a brilliant guest Ronnie is! Relaxed and honest, the six-times world snooker champion speaks from the heart.

His dad was his rock until he was jailed for murder when Ronnie was a teenager and his mum was sent to prison a few years later. Ronnie admits that he lost the plot and went off the tracks.

He loved sport growing up - tennis, cricket, football...but it was snooker that grabbed him when his dad bought a table.

But these days he doesn't have a practice table at home to stop him being obsessed.

There's a fascinating discussion about the mental side of the sport and Ronnie talks about his work with Dr Steve Peters, the sports psychologist and what goes through his mind with every shot. He's become much more relentless and more of a winner because of the time he's invested in the mental side of the game.

He's concerned about the future of the snooker with a lack of young people coming through and talks about why he thinks this is and what could be done to change it and spice it up!

Ronnie says every sport need characters. And snooker has lost this.

Ellen White is an England footballer. Richard Whitehead is a Paralympic gold medal winner.