Sport Australia Hall of Fame welcomes first ever female

What started as a personal mission to protect female athletes from a little-discussed injury is now scaling up to the world stage. Suzie Betts, founder of Boob Protect — formerly known as Boob Armour — is rebranding her innovative breast protection company as it expands beyond Australia to the UK, US, and Europe. 

With thousands of athletes already benefiting from her ultra-light, high-impact inserts, Betts is setting a new global standard for female sports safety, making breast protection a must-have for women and girls everywhere.

International growth is focused on the US college system and the UK, with grassroots support driving awareness. Betts also highlighted ongoing efforts to break stigma through education and partnerships, including their role in the UK’s female-led “Style of Our Own” initiative.

In an exclusive chat with Soccerscene, Suzie Betts revealed that the rebrand to Boob Protect strengthened the company’s mission to make breast protection essential in sport. Since then, they’ve expanded sizes and sports, focusing on comfort and real protection based on athlete feedback.

What inspired the rebrand from Boob Armour to Boob Protect, and how does the new identity reflect your long-term vision for the company?

Suzie Betts: The rebrand from Boob Armour to Boob Protect was sparked by a trademark dispute with a global sporting giant. While we held legally obtained trademarks, we were ultimately pressured to give up the original name. It was frustrating — and frankly, unfair — but it also became a turning point. Boob Protect now gives us a clearer, bolder identity for our long-term vision: to make breast protection an everyday essential in sport and beyond.

Have there been any product updates or innovations since the rebrand that specifically target new age groups, sports, or athlete needs?

Suzie Betts: Yes, we’ve expanded significantly. Boob Protect now comes in seven sizes, making it more accessible for younger girls just starting out in sport, as well as women in a range of body shapes and sporting codes. We’re seeing growing adoption in contact sports like AFL, rugby, netball and basketball, but also in unexpected areas — martial arts, water polo, even emergency services.

We’re also working more closely with schools, clubs, and associations to deliver breast health education alongside product distribution. Looking ahead, we’re developing solutions not just for athletes, but also for women in professions where breast impact is a risk. 

Protection shouldn’t stop at the sidelines.

How do you incorporate feedback from athletes and medical professionals when evolving Boob Protect, and what kind of responses have you received—particularly from young women using the product?

Suzie Betts: That’s key to how our product became how it is. We knew that the athletes, for example, wanted to feel light when they were performing and they didn’t want something that felt bulky. The options they already had before were garments, which were actually quite heavy and restrictive. They also sweated a lot in them, and it didn’t make them feel fast or agile with whatever sport they were playing.

We also knew that it needed to be fitting to the breasts, not the body, which a garment does. So because of this, we’ve created two inserts, and each insert encapsulates each breast in its natural shape. Women’s boobs are normally not the same size, and one might be higher than the other. So having separate inserts—more than just a chest plate—was really what we knew we needed, and that was feedback from both the people in those professions and the athletes.

What had been produced in the past wasn’t absorbing the force impact. They might have negated a bit of the pain, but the reason we did an encapsulation shell is because you need to keep the breast protected in its natural shape and make it easy to wear, which is the first of its kind to do that.

For younger females, we call it ‘the unreported injury,’ because girls don’t want to talk about that pain. If you’ve got a male trainer or coach, they’re just not having those conversations, whether they’re shy, or for cultural reasons, they’re not talking about it. But there’s the immediate impact and the long-term effects, which is what happened to me and why I started the brand. I’ve had three lots of surgery now for lumps that mimic breast cancer cells, so until I have surgery, they don’t know what they are. That’s the worst part about it—it’s completely avoidable if your boobs are protected.

Which international markets are you prioritising next, and what makes those regions a good fit for Boob Protect?

Suzie Betts: We’re in the USA, and what we’re doing there is really starting at the entry point through the college system, through the National College Athlete Association (NCAA). College sport is huge, it’s watched on TV and has a whole body behind it. We’ve had some amazing girls in all sports —lacrosse, field hockey, soccer— try our product and love it. So, we’re looking at speaking to the NCAA as a whole to really make breast protection part of the conversation. 

We’re also looking at the UK, particularly soccer and rugby. We’ve got a big following there already, with probably over 4000 girls wearing our product globally, that’s all from word of mouth. We’ve never really advertised; it’s just people talking about it and loving it.

What partnerships—whether with athletes, distributors, or organisations—have been key to growing international awareness?

Suzie Betts: There’s been athlete partnerships, which have been really key. Katrina Gorry wore our product a number of years ago in the World Cup while breastfeeding her daughter Harper, and she wanted to protect her milk supply. That was amazing, it felt like a nod that what we were doing was on the right track. 

We’ve had associations with the AFL and Basketball Australia as well, but they were earlier on. I feel like all of our partnerships have got us to where we are today, even if they didn’t bring a return on investment at the time. But they’ve been stepping stones to creating awareness outside the normal realm of advertising.

The day my press release was going to go out was the day COVID was announced. So our strategy then shifted, we started going to clubs and leagues, and at the time, we were really focused on AFL. That’s where my head was in the beginning.

But during COVID, I started thinking, hold on, there are so many markets for this, it’s not just AFL. It was soccer that really opened my eyes. I didn’t know much about soccer or rugby back then. My kids all play AFL, and my girls are in basketball, so that was where my thinking naturally sat. But COVID gave me time to reflect, and that’s when it clicked, this could be for anything.

Do you think breast protection in sport still carries a stigma, and how are you working to normalise the conversation?

Suzie Betts: Well, look, we’ve got a lot of research under our belt, and we love to share. That’s been key to shaping our product, because for some reason, this product is all about education. As I said, if you’re talking cricket boxes, shin guards, even mouth guards, there’s no education piece about the immediate or long-term damage. It should be an open conversation.

On our new website, especially in the US, we even included ways to approach the subject, because if you’re a male trainer, they often don’t feel comfortable having those conversations. But in saying that, I’ve had men—presidents of football and soccer clubs—who’ve gone out of their way to make sure they purchase breast protection for every girl in their team or league. 

A lot of them are now looking at grants, not necessarily from the government, but from companies who want to support female sport. A lot of them are requesting that the funds go toward breast protection. So it’s getting there, and it’s really exciting. The research still needs to catch up, but most girls know—if you’ve been hit in the boobs, you really don’t want to get hit again.

There are a lot of conversations happening around training, your cycle, and performance, but still nothing about protecting your boobs. And as we know, at that time of the month, they kill. You get a whack, and you don’t want to go back on the field. We now know that a lot of teenagers give up sport because of their boobs. Some have been hit, some just don’t have the right bras—and there are lots who don’t. The number of girls I’ve fitted and said, ‘What is this bra? You need a new one, it’s got no elastic.’

Our product helps stop the bounce and absorb force impact. No bra will do that. You need the inserts. And they’re really simple to wear.

How does Boob Protect contribute to broader conversations around women’s safety, confidence, and visibility in sport?

Suzie Betts: It’s definitely through, again, our voice about education and the immediate, long-term trauma associated with your boobs not being protected. It’s something you’re likely going to deal with later on down the track, like me. It’s just really trying to open up those channels where we can talk about it. Just make people think, ‘I want to be able to breastfeed down the track. I don’t want to have to go through surgery because of something like this.’

The testing itself is horrible, it hurts, it’s traumatic, it’s expensive—and then having to have surgery on top of that, and the recovery, and all those things. I never thought I had breast cancer, but for a lot of women, the whole waiting would be traumatic.

I’m creating a new category, a new market that hasn’t been there before. It’s taking longer than I’d like, but I’m so passionate about it, I can’t stop until it’s really like a mandated product, like a mouth guard or shin guards.

That’s why it’s a grassroots thing too because as soon as you start playing sport, your boobs are vulnerable. You don’t have to have big boobs or small—any size boobs, even flat-chested girls, can obtain an injury. The tissue’s there, and when their boobs grow, they can be deformed. One can be bigger than the other. That’s also another side of trauma, which is, again, avoidable.

What’s next for Boob Protect—any exciting partnerships, campaigns, or product launches on the horizon?

Suzie Betts: We’re really excited to be the only Australian company that’s involved in an initiative in the UK called Style of Our Own, which is in a store on Regent Street in London, with 27 female-founded brands. There are all innovative companies started by women who have come across a problem and created a solution. Obviously we’re in there with our solution. 

There’s Ida Sports with Laura Youngson, the founder, who was actually the initiator of this whole concept, and she has the female football cleat. There’s also an array of technologically advanced sports bras, period wear and uniforms specifically for female athletes, plus merch made for them too. 

All of these brands were founded by women who identified a problem and designed innovative solutions. It’s a first of its kind, and it’s really cool—and hopefully it opens a lot more doors, which it already is.

For more information about Boob Protect and their role in education around breast injuries, visit: https://boobprotect.com/pages/about-us