Layla Guscoth | Defending the Nation: From the Court to Covid Wards

Giving The Game Away

Today, we have the great privilege of releasing our conversation with Layla Guscoth who is both an international sportsperson and a qualified Doctor on the Covid-19 frontline.

In February 2020, Layla won a dream move to play professional netball for the Adelaide Thunderbirds in the Australian Suncorp Super League, widely regarded as one of the most competitive in the world. Just a few months later, as the pandemic spread, Layla – who studied Medicine at Oxford - had to choose between staying in Australia or returning to England to join the frontline fight against Covid-19. As a dedicated Doctor, Layla returned to England.

We often speak to athletes about the need to deal with pressure in order to achieve their goals and Layla’s success is a wonderful example. Whether coping with the intensity of an Oxford medicine degree, the high-stakes environment of elite sport or, more recently, the life-and-death environment of Covid-19 treatment, Layla has demonstrated that capacity to deal with intense situations. So there will be few people more knowledgeable than Layla about coping with the demands of high performance whether in sport or at work, and it was fascinating to hear her insights on both of these. We were so grateful for the conversation we had together, and we hope you enjoy it.