One of the world’s most revolutionary impact protection products has now entered into one of the country’s most popular sports.

And there’s “no barrier”, according to Western Bulldogs games record-holder Brad Johnson, to which sports the Zena Sport performance garment can be used in.

Zena Sport, the brainchild of Donna Johnson and husband Brad, is the most advanced female impact protection garment on the global market. It’s a one-vest-fits-all-sports development for female athletes that protects the breast, chest and rib area.

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And now the vest is worn by some of Australia’s best basketball players after Zena partnered with the ever-growing semi-professional competition NBL1.

“There‘s so many elements in the game where you can either hit the deck or the ball can hit you,” Brad told foxsports.com.au. “You’ve got the lower end in terms of contact, but it’s those continual knocks – the accidental elbows under the ring, getting blocked, you performing the block – there’s so many things in the game where we know the vest can assist the player.

“That‘s why it’s exciting to really start to delve a bit deeper into basketball. That’s why it’s great to work with the NBL1 because of the way participation rates have just grown.”

The venture into basketball comes after Zena was launched at the start of last year, with several AFLW stars, such as Daisy Pearce and Sabrina Frederick, the first to get their hands on it.

By March 2020, around 15 AFLW players were wearing the vest, with the Johnson’s hopeful the early exposure would encourage not only other women in the competition, but also players at local senior and junior levels to sign up.

Zena quickly boomed.

Johnson said roughly 70 players donned the vest during the 2021 AFLW season, with that number expected to grow next year.

“The girls love it because it’s so light and doesn’t restrict any type of movement, it’s just easy for them to put on and they know they’re protected,” he said.

“That’s meant we’ve got out there a little bit more. Signing with NBL1 has been awesome, that’s going to be a great relationship and we look forward to building that more.

“It’s been challenging starting a small business in Covid times, but it’s been really positive for us. It‘s something now that we’re looking to just continue to take to the next level.

“The most important thing for us is participation rates are going through the roof and we want to protect the girls. Donna is really passionate about that. Protecting the ribs, protecting the breast – that‘s our point of difference in that we can cover that whole upper body.”

Football and basketball are two of the most popular sports to participate in around the country. But Zena Sport has partnered with an array of emerging sports and organisations, including Australian Lacrosse and Softball Australia, while boxing, martial arts, roller derby and gridiron athletes are also now wearing the vest.

We‘ve got some really cool sports that we never thought we’d even consider talking to,” Johnson said.

“We‘ve got surfboat rowers that wear it, Bec Hamilton being one, because they get smashed – the boats tip and they cop it pretty hard.

“Roller Derby is pretty cool and they’re pretty fierce. The girls have a red-hot crack in terms of the way they’ve got to participate.

“We‘ve signed with Blind Sports Australia, which is a really good one. We love working with the goalball team … they’re wearing the vest and absolutely love it.

“There’s no barrier in where we’d like to go because we know it’ll work. It will assist the player in absorbing contact – that’s what it’s all about.”

The vest came about after the Johnson’s identified a gap in the Australian sports market for gender-specific protective wear.

After ascertaining there was a growing market for protective wear, the husband-wife combination worked closely with medical research scientist Brooke Brisbane to firstly understand breast trauma then develop a garment.

Johnson said Deakin University’s support with testing had validated the product through the Centre of Sport research, adding the feedback and intelligence athletes had provided him and Donna over the past 12 months had been uplifting.

“We‘ve been able to do all these things and have been able to have really good conversation with all levels of sport because they know how serious we are about the vest and where it’s at.”

“It covers everything and all sports. Any sport that has any type of collision or contact, but even recreational pursuits, they’re wearing the vest to support themselves. They’re recovering better and feeling more confident.

“It‘s been really exciting to be able to provide something the girls are loving and the fact we’re now doing more and more, it’s really good.”

While Johnson has played a crucial role in Zena Sport’s growth, he insisted it was driven by wife Donna, who “brought it to life”.

“I’m just rapt to be able to support her and I’m in 100 per cent, so hopefully she can succeed and make the vest something the vest a lot of girls will wear over time,” the Bulldogs legend said.

“She‘s really passionate about breast care, she’s passionate about protection, she’s passionate about prevention rather than waiting for something to happen. All those elements come into her thinking – and I think exactly the same, so it’s pretty easy to jump on board.

“I love sport, so I love talking to all the major sporting bodies and building relationships there. I‘ve learned more about sports I already thought I knew a bit about and love and some sports that I knew nothing about that I’ve really enjoyed learning more about them. Everyone’s involved for the right reasons.

“Getting positive feedback makes us push harder … we know we can support female participants at all levels of sport – and that’s the most important thing. We’re really open in trying to help as many as we can and communicate with them and make them feel part of our Zena family.”

You can read more about – or even purchase – the Zena protective garment here. NBL1 players around the country can get 10% off the RRP of Zena’s protective vest by usingthese discount codes!