The South Metro Junior Football League (SMJFL) has partnered with female impact protection vest company Zena Sport amid the 2021 season.
Zena Sport, an Australian business run by husband and wife duo Brad and Donna Johnson, are industry leaders in sports protective gear.
Brad and Donna embarked on a research journey to understand the occurrence of injuries for both elite and grassroots female players.
Discovering that many injuries to the breast tissue and ribs often go unreported, Zena Sport was formed, creating a ground-breaking garment that assists with the protection of ribs and breast tissue in game-play.
Zena’s Z-1 Impact Protection Vest has now been widely adopted by multiple players throughout the AFLW competition, including St Kilda FC AFLW players Hannah Priest, Kate Shierlaw, Caitlin Greiser, Kate McCarthy, Liv Vesely, Tilly Lucas Rodd, Bianca Jakobsson and Renee Saulitis.
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Co-founder and former-Western Bulldogs Captain Brad spoke of Zena Sport’s mission.
“We at Zena Sport offer an elite standard protection vest and hope to educate and normalise the conversation around breast injury and the benefits of prevention and protection,” said Mr Johnson.
“The Zena Z-1 is a protective vest specifically designed for females to ensure adolescent girls and women can play contact or collision-based sport to their full ability while protecting breast tissue and Ribs,” Mr Johnson said.
“We are excited to partner with SMJFL and continue spreading this important message,” he said.
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The number of female players participating in the SMJFL has seen a significant increase since 2015, soaring from 668 players in 2015 to 2,382 players in 2020.
With the growing female talent pool, SMJFL Chief Executive Officer Sarah Loh said it was “imperative” to educate young players coming through junior pathways about the importance of using protective gear in their crucial stages of developments.
“Just as wearing a mouthguard or a protective helmet is a no-brainer for contact sport, its crucial that we normalise the use of protective chest gear for our young female players,” said Ms Loh.
“I’d like to thank Zena Sport for their support of the SMJFL and applaud them for their efforts and research in creating this revolutionary product and allowing female players to play with confidence.”
The league and its member clubs will receive exclusive pricing as part of the partnership. Players and parents can contact their clubs directly to retrieve a promotion code to use at checkout.
To learn more about Zena Sport and their products, visit https://zenasport.co/.
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