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What I've Learnt - Suzie Betts · WHAT I'VE LEARNT

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_01: Australian-owned and operated Boob Armour is designed to protect breasts and prevent injury in women and girls playing impact and hardball sports, including Australian rules football, netball, basketball, rugby, soccer, hockey and cricket.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: Susie Betts, Boob Armour's founder and director, says there's plenty of research and evidence showing that impact to the breast can result in deep bruising and the formation of hard lumps in the breast tissue.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: Too many of us are unaware of the problem and underestimate the occurrence of breast injuries.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: Susie is committed to protecting females in contact sports and giving them confidence to play at their best without fear of breast injury during a game or training.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: Specialist breast cancer surgeon Dr.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: Chantel Thornton says trauma to the breast tissue can cause dead fat necrosis, which can lead to lumps in the breast.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: This can be mistaken for breast cancer, and as a result, a biopsy might be required.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: So bubama consists of inserts made from soft but strong polyethylene, just two millimetres thick.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: They extend around the underarm for added protection, stabilise the breast into position, and can be easily inserted into a sports bra.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: Dr.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: Thornton says trauma to the breast should be avoided and protection in sport is recommended.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: So Bu Bomber, which is officially licensed by the AFL and the AFLW, was launched in 2020 with one overriding ambition to give more women and girls the confidence to play Impact Sports while protecting their breasts from injury.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: According to Libby Birch, who is a physiotherapist and played for the Melbourne AFLW, she says, well, it's like a modern mouth guard for females.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: We wear helmets and chin guards, but what about protecting the most important part of your body?
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: Since becoming a physio, she says she's more aware of the impact on breasts during contact sports.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: For example, we chess mark the ball, we get bumped, kicked, and shoved during play, but wearing chest protection gives me confidence to know my breasts are being protected from injury and impact today and into the future.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: So, Susie, welcome to the What I've Learned podcast.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: So thrilled to have you on board.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having me, Deb.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: Pleasure.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: So, Susie, tell me a little bit about where and how this really quite extraordinary idea came up for you.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, were you um um involved in sport a lot growing up?
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me how this came to be.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Well, this actually came to be um in 2018 when I actually found lumps in my own breasts.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I went to see um my breast surgeon who asked me the first question she actually asked me was, had I received a trauma somewhere along the way.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I thought that was quite weird at the time, but it stuck with me.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: We then had to go down the path of you know going through the motions of looking for breast cancer.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I ended up having uh a lot of testing, including biopsies, which are probably the worst thing I've ever had in my life.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then I had surgery to find out I didn't have breast cancer, which I never thought I did.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: About a month or two later, I developed more lumps, which was pretty rare for, you know, these sort of things.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: And at the end of the day, I think it turns out that what my lumps were were the result of a trauma I may have received when I was younger.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: So having two daughters who played at the time, both basketball and Aussie rules, I came home and I said to them, Do you girls get hit in the boobs?
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: And they were like, Yeah, dumb question, mum, all the time.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: So then, you know, it really started playing on me, and I thought, you know, what is there to protect girls?
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: There's obviously a cricket box for boys, you know, we have to wear a mouth guard when we're playing Aussie rules.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: Soccer players have to wear shin guards, but they don't have to have any breast protection.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Cricketers might have to wear groin or thigh guards, no breast protection.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, basketballers, nothing, netballers, nothing.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: So we really went looking for some research.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: And the research that was available was uh overseas research, which basically showed that approximately 50% of the girls did receive a breast injury in this particular study, and only 5% reported it as well.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: So there was a problem being that no one was thinking about these injuries because the girls weren't reporting it.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Whether they looked as being too soft in what was a male-dominated once industry, or whether they had a male coach and didn't feel comfortable to discuss it, or whether they just thought, I'll just get on with it and I'll be tough.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: So then last year, thank God, there had been some published research into which included Aussie rules uh as well, you know, a study of 207 uh players of Aussie Rules, rugby, AFL, and 60% there said they had obtained an injury, and 50% of those said that that actually affected their performance.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, that's they're scary numbers when you think about it.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: Extremely.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I I find it extraordinary that nobody's actually um in any form dealt with this before.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: And your personal story that which led you down this path is also pretty extreme.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I I just can't believe that you had to go through the entire um breast cancer screening, scanning, even to the point of biopsies, for this issue to be identified.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um so you're really saying, I mean, it was this something that when you spoke to your surgeon that is common?
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that people interestingly enough, now I have to still be tested every six months.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: So the last test I had, which was probably about that's an MRI with the dye that goes in your arm.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I have to say, the first MRI I ever had, I crawled out of because it was the most traumatic, traumatic thing I'd ever been through following the biopsy.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but so about a month ago I had another biopsy.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: So this is an ongoing thing.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, these lumps, you know, they mimic breast cancer cells.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, it it even though you don't have cancer, obviously, um, you know, it is hard to detect and and the imaging doesn't show up these things.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: So that that hence why you've got to go for the biopsy as well.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: And my surgeon is so thorough that we cross everything.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I do the mammogram, the ultrasound, and the MRI, and all three of them show things different.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: One might show up in an MRI, one may not show up in a mammogram.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: So hence why we do the biopsies as well.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm getting very used to this now.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: Look, what I do, what I do find really interesting though is that um this must be a not an uncommon experience.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: And also the fact, so there's no really early distinguishing um test to say this is a trauma um lump versus a breast cancer lump.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Well, a girlfriend of mine who I ran into in the street and she was talking about it, and she and I said that what had happened to me in the question.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: She said, and she goes to the same surgeon and she said, I had the exact same question.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: So one of the first questions was, Do you think you've ever received a trauma?
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: Which, as I said, I it I don't know why.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: I never when she asked me that question, I was like, oh, that's a weird question, but then it stuck with me.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: And so you still have to go through, if you like, the pathway of as if you have had a breast cancer lump, even though you haven't.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: So my lumps, I I seem to develop them often, I think more than most people.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: And we have to go down that path of we've got to rule out cancer, so we will do another biopsy.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: And as I said, it's it's really traumatic.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: The first one I ever had, the local anaesthetic didn't work.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: So when they said you'll hear a click, I actually felt a gunshot.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I had a black and blue blue breast for probably six months.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: It was really traumatic.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: And every time my husband would be like, Do you want me to come with you?
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, I'll be fine.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I didn't really know what I was in for.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: I think I came out with an afro.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: My hair was up here.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then when the sir when the guy who'd done it saw the tears rolling down my face, he's like, and now we'll do the other one.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh God, no.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not fun.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: Anyone who's had a biopsy can tell you that's not what you want.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: So why we've created this product that I have created is to alleviate the injury.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: So by our product being worn by girls, um, it the polyethylene actually absorbs the impact, and therefore the injury, you don't have an injury of the breast.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: When they're in, you actually can't feel a thing.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: You can get kicked, you can get punched, head butted, whatever.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: And the girls just cannot believe what they're feeling.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: So my 13-year-old gives me a report after every football match.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: She said, Someone, you know, tried, you know, I got an elbow, but I didn't feel anything.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: And the day she forgot to wear them at a football match, she was like, Mum, I got hit in the boobs 25 times.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: I I just can't, I really, it's such a wonderful product in the sense that you've really tapped into a very important market and one that that uh of course has never been top priority for anybody else but a woman.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's not, I don't think it's a coincidence as you've you've uh outlined that you have actually had a personal experience that has led to you developing this product.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: How hard was it to actually get traction on it?
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: Was it difficult?
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: I think, first of all, when I, you know, decided to launch it, which was happening in March 2020, obviously, COVID, we were about to, you know, send out a press release, and I just went, hold on, there's this little virus sniffling around.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: We might have to stop that.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: So obviously, traction was affected because we had, you know, with locked down.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: No sport, no need for it.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: But in saying that too, I think I just thought everyone would go, wow, yeah, I need this.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, this is great.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: But what it's proven along the way is it's all about education.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: People and it and until it becomes mandate, like a mouth guard or shin guards, we're going to still have this problem where people go, great idea, I'll think about it later.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, and you know, there's been some amazing men who have really embraced it.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's been someone who have said some really horrible emails telling me they don't have breasts, so why don't I go and get stuffed?
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean, it really is just another planet at times that that that you know people responded that way.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, was it were there men that did step up?
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: And and what was the process of actually trying to get this through the loop?
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: Was it was it a particularly complex?
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, you had the product development, etc.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me a little bit about the process of how you what I really wanted to do, well, one thing that was really key was to make it something that is adaptable to what girls are are used to.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: So their own crop top, their own sports bra, which, as you and I will both know, we have our favourites.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: So I didn't want to impeach on the manufacturers of those apparel pieces.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: So my product needed to be something that could be complementary to what's already exists, which is great.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: So we also, one of the key things was keeping the breast into the breast shape.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: So we have made our inserts encapsulate the actual shape of the shell.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: At the moment, what most sports bras, no sports bras not.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, crop tops definitely have a compression element to them, which is not great on long-term breast health.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: So you need to encompass your actual breast like a shell.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: So we're like an encasement for the shell.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um so basically, just so I understand, because it's really an insert, isn't it?
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: So it inserts into have you got an example there?
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, great.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so that that's inserted into the bra.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so that goes into your crop top.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'll give you a demo.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: And once it's in there, yeah, it goes around like that, and you really can't feel anything.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: So what is what's quite hard, yeah?
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's flexible.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, okay, good.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: So it flexes into no, so some girls like my daughters love putting it straight on their skin.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: Some girls wear two crop tops anyway, so they put it between the two.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: There's a great Nike crop top that has the foam that comes out the top, and you can slip them straight in there.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's like it was made for Boobama.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: And as I said, once they're in, football players cannot believe how confident they are to chess mark the ball.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: My husband, who used to play footy, that's one thing he noticed first off about you know, girls playing football.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: He said they they're too nervous to chess mark because of their boobs.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: Now imagine a cold winter's morning with a wet leather football.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I can't even, to be honest, it's not my thing, but I totally, I mean, I'm so in awe of these female football players and how how incredible they are and how exciting it is to have this whole league and these extraordinary women.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: And you'd hate for any of our girls to be hesitant or um concerned about injury.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: And this is this is really quite uh groundbreaking, I would think.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: Well, uh we are we are focusing as well at grassroots because a lot of parents won't let their daughters play at myriad of sports because of the fear of an injury to their breast.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know, in cricket, they'll have a helmet and they might have shin pads.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but and there is a female box, but they don't have anything to cover their breasts.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: So at the same time, we're hoping that by giving them an option, it'll increase sign-ups in different sports like footy, soccer, and those things where parents in the past have been so worried about their girls getting injured.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: Now, our studies also show that you actually can obtain a breast injury with being flat-chested.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: So we recommended from eight years and up.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I did what was good about COVID was I did actually manufacture a smaller size for which we call youth for our young girls.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then the result of that can be when your breasts actually grow, you may have a deformity.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: So, and I've seen some horrible pictures where that's the case, actually, one bigger than the other or odd shape.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, breast protection is not only for the women who already have their breasts, but for, you know, the budding breasts too and the flat chested.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: And so, how many sizes does it come in?
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: We've got seven sizes that go from youth up to extra large.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: They need to fit snug, so but to do their job, you want them not moving.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why we suggest going down a size.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: People go, you know, I'm a G cup and I, you know, you don't go up to G cup.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, well, you may up end up in a large, not even an extra large, because remember, we've all got different shaped breasts as well.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: And even though we've molded it around the cup of a bra, it'll fit differently for different girls.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I fitted a G cup girl the other day at a football club and she ended up in an L now at a large.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: So when we put them in her, she never runs.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: She ran up and down and up and down, and she was like, Oh my god, my boobs aren't even moving.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: So that's another thing we do.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: We help alleviate the bounce in just running and jumping.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: And she's like, Mum, I need these now.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: She wouldn't even take them off.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: She was so excited.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: And so, so just so from a sizing perspective, it's not that the sizing isn't along the lines of it's not like uh C D E cut.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it it is along it is along CDE, um, but you know, a C for you and me might be a different C to a six foot five girl.
• 15:23
  unknown: Yeah.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: Because there's more width and all that stuff.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: So even though we've based it around that, and this has become apparent along the way when I go and do fittings and stuff, it's really individual at the end of the day.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: So, Susie, just to clarify, the sizing is C D E F G, like like brass sizing, um, but you're very conscious that things are fitted properly.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: How do you supervise and oversee that?
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so we have we do have our sizes relating to C D E F.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: So a D plus is an extra large.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: But in saying that, I'm very focused on the customer service side of it and making sure, no matter what, that the girls are in the right insert size.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of people ask me questions on our chat, and I've even had girls uh chat to me from a change room in a sports store, sending me photos.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: As I said, we I give them a guide, and the guide is go down a size.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: You want it to be snug.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I think at the end, like from within that whole year that we've been live, I've had one person get where we've got it wrong.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: So our guide is pretty spot on, but as I said to you, it's specific to every girl.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, what I think I said about you and I being, you know, what's a C to us is a is a different C to someone else.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: So it is about chatting with the individual where possible.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: But I do have a lot, we have a lot of chats.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: That online chat's great.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, because obviously people will be anxious about making sure that they fit and suit properly, but it sounds like you're managing that very carefully.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, do you have so if people buy online, that's one thing.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: As you say, they get delivered sort of like a bra would get delivered.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: But do you have like outlets or facilities, or can people book in with you to if they're concerned about fitting or size?
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: So we go out and see a lot of sports clubs, and I love that because I love really engaging with the girls and talking about the problems, which most of them have never thought of before.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: And they get so excited just trying them on.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: So you see them doing boop to boop, jumping in the air, and it's really great.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I come home on a high because I know that they're now protected.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of them send me beautiful notes just saying, I can't believe that I, you know, played without this before.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: And the most lovely, lovely compliment.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: So it's that's probably the most rewarding thing I love doing.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: I love getting out there and speaking to people where we can.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, I mean, I had a big call out in Perth, can't get there.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: So and that obviously the logistics of that is obviously COVID affected, but in time, obviously, that will become a little easier.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I can sort of imagine you'd have a team or an army of fitters that could be accessed.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: Is that what your intention is?
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that would be great down the track.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, I'm a you know a little old me at the moment, but what I did do was produce a video of how they needed to be fitted so that people could roll them out in clubs too.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: And so the the initial reaction, as you say, of you know, from some of the men were like, you know, a little cynical, let's say.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think that's changing?
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think as as um uh men are obviously seeing that women's football is a huge success, for example, and understanding you know, women's basketball is also thriving.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: What have you seen in terms of the change of attitude from from male, often male run clubs and um and all the coaches?
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: And are you seeing a change?
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: Are people starting to see how important this is?
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, absolutely.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, when they read the facts and they read the research that I, you know, forward to them, they're shocked and they're very, very encouraging.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, it is only gonna, you know, we've got two and a half million girls playing sport in Australia across maybe six basketball, netball, uh, hockey, lacrosse, uh, cricket, and it's growing.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: So they see the benefit of it.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the reasons the AFL were interested in licensing it because they understood that this is just gonna get bigger and bigger.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: Secondary to concussion, this is something that hasn't been thought about.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: And at the end of the day, we're creating a brand new market.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: So no one's really thought about it.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: And once, but once they do think about it and they hear the facts, they're like, wow.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: As I said, I you may or may not have read in the age a few weeks ago, Caulfield Grammar have taken it as a duty of care to roll out to their first players.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, that is men and women involved in that team.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: So it wasn't just a women's decision, it was the principal who was involved.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: It was everyone was involved of making this, you know, the guys get protected, we've got to, as a duty of care, look after our girls.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: So hopefully the schools and the teams will follow suit of how important it actually is for everyone.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: So your ambition is to hopefully that it will be like a mouthword mandatory, that it will be something.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, yeah.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like a cricket box.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: When the cricket box was invented many moons ago, there was no medical research.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: It was protect the ground jewels, different for the boobs.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: We've got to prove why you need to wear it.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: And so the AFL coming on board would have been a great uh validation, and and certainly that drives it into the the echelons that you want to access and helps give you the credibility, which you obviously deserve and need.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think that um the AFL will in an ongoing way be effective at helping that become a mandatory option?
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: I can't speak for them, but I would love it if they could.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um it it comes from need and want, and I suppose realizing how important this is.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I suppose when they look at sign-ups in community at community level, which reflects on the sport in general, I'm sure it would be something that they would hopefully help grow and promote as a mandate piece, like a mouth guard.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: And so for you, what's been the greatest challenges with this process, with trying to get this up and into the world?
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: I suppose COVID, because you know, we start on a, I think that's why I'm depressed today, but COVID, we start, we get we start getting momentum and then we stop.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, if you're looking at elite sport stopping, we it's only rolling through to community.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: And we are really targeting those growers kids.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: So the parents will then say, oh, well, footy stopped.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not buying that because we don't need it.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: We might need it next year, but they're forgetting that their daughter might play netball or basketball or cricket or another sport where this product, and unless you lose one or your boobs grow overnight, will be a key piece in your kit for a very long time.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it looks like a pretty sturdy, resilient um item.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's not something that's going to, as you say, it's an investment in something that will be long term.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: But look, I appreciate, and I'm sorry that you do feel the way you do.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: I think everybody's feeling, and lots of businesses are being severely impacted.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I can see how yours would be as well.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_01: But I think if we can hold five and all just work as a team to support each other.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, when I read about what you were doing and about this product, and as you know, you and I actually know each other through another means, but we didn't, I didn't know that when I contacted you because I didn't know.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: I was just like, what a great idea.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: I read you know an article, I think it was in the age or wherever it was, and I thought, you know, go you.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: And and I think that if we keep innovating, creating, and this is a particularly important.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um I I love the fact also that you have identified that women and girls are so, so important to protect in this way.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: And for the life of me, I don't understand why it's never been done.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: But good on you for finding this niche and for developing something which I think will have a lot of longevity and hopefully support.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I really, really want to thank you for coming on the What I've Learned podcast to talk about this.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I think we should stay in touch and keep I was about to use this abreast of all your news.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, and keep us updated on how this is going, because um I really believe in what you're doing, and I'm sure our listeners will be very interested.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: And hopefully we'll go out and get them.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_01: And look, sport will be back.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_01: We it'll be back because it has to be.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: And we all need it for our mental health, other than anything else.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: We need that, you know, something to look forward to running out on a pitch, on a field, do something.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, Susie.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for your time and you have a good day and keep that smile and you look gorgeous.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I think we all gorgeous soon.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: Bye.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: Bye.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks so much for listening.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: The What I've Learned podcast will now be coming to you weekly with new episodes released every Tuesday.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: I'm blessed to have so many wonderful guests coming on the show.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: So check out my What I've Learned Instagram for updates.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: Meanwhile, stay tuned, kind, and curious.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: Love dear.