Students Launch New Athletics Podcast
The Wesleyan Athletics Department launched The Cardinal Chirp podcast earlier this year—a new way to platform the personalities who make up the dynamic athletic community on campus. Each week, a group of student-athlete hosts engage in conversation with other student-athletes and coaches to hear their stories away from the on-field action.
“I think that having this platform allows people to see the person and the athlete as two separate things,” said podcast co-host Cat Palmer ’26, a government and psychology double major and softball player.
Sophia Lindus ’26, a government major and two-time All-American volleyball player, was the podcast’s first guest. During her appearance, she spoke about trying to navigate conversations in French with locals while studying abroad in Paris, her experiences at summer internships in finance, coursework at Wesleyan, and how she recovered from a significant knee injury that forced her to miss her junior season. Lindus is also a lifelong pianist, but she couldn’t walk over to her piano while injured. She learned guitar instead to serve as a creative outlet and pass the time.
“I think as athletes we tend to pigeonhole ourselves into thinking we're only valued because of our athletic ability, but this podcast showcases us as a person and it allows us to talk about our interests outside of our sports,” Lindus said.
The podcast’s inaugural season is hosted by Palmer, Bridget Horst ’26 (women’s lacrosse), Will Littell ’26 (football), and Kayla Howell ’26 (women’s golf). This group initially set out to connect with the broader athletics community, but along the way they have learned to listen with intention, ask better questions, improvise, work through their own nervousness, and find ways to make a guest comfortable enough to open up.
Palmer said the podcast has pushed her to focus on listening more closely and asking more relevant questions. “I have learned to hear people a little bit more,” Palmer said. “Sometimes I think about the next thing I'm going to say before I actually hear someone, but some of the best conversations we've had on the podcast have come from genuinely listening to the person and going from there.”
Horst, a Science and Technology Studies major with a focus in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, said the podcast has also boosted her self-confidence. Since this is her first experience as an interviewer or host, she faced some initial nerves. After a few episodes, Horst felt more at ease, which has given her license to trust herself in the right moments to improvise. While the team goes into each podcast with a list of questions and background about their guests, she said going off script has led to the deepest discussions.
“We have a script with questions, and background on them, but I think when we only rely on that, it's not going to be a good episode,” said Horst. “If we use that and really try to talk to the person to see what they're like, then the more comfortable they are and the better they're going to speak.”
Horst said the podcast has made her feel more connected to student-athletes from other teams. Josh Nadison ’26 expressed the same sentiment—his episode has led to conversations with other athletes and parents who resonated with his experiences at Wesleyan.
“I think you can see it in all facets of Wesleyan athletics; here students support students,” said Nadison, who double majors in Business and Organizational Systems, a University major, and psychology.
Across 17 episodes to date, the show interviewed members of over a dozen teams, coaches, and an alumnus. This week's episode features two guests from men’s lacrosse—Will Miller ’26 and Charlie Hill ’28. Members of women’s lacrosse, women’s golf, baseball, and softball will join the show in the upcoming weeks.
