00:00 From bone-crunching tackles to hard hits, there's no holding back in these contact sports.
00:08 But soon, these women could have extra reason to feel safe when they step out on the pitch.
00:14 It's going to be a game-changer, not just here in Australia, but worldwide.
00:18 The lightbulb moment for a female-specific sporting armour came while working with Bond University.
00:24 So they approached me and said, "Could you make something for our rugby female team?"
00:29 Marie Doherty plays prop, one of rugby's most brutal positions,
00:34 and says she'll feel hits for days and weeks after games.
00:39 Definitely all woken up feeling like that.
00:41 We've even felt like that an hour after the game, where we just think, "This might be the last game I play."
00:47 Protective gear is often designed for men and then scaled or resized to fit women.
00:52 Whatever is on the market doesn't fit, it's not comfortable,
00:56 they have to adjust constantly of what they are wearing, they get distracted.
01:02 But this yet-to-be-named prototype uses impact absorption materials
01:06 to protect the most vulnerable areas of the female body.
01:10 The air molecules in our product will absorb the energy and then push it back out,
01:15 just like an airbag in the car.
01:17 If we can protect anything about our bodies, playing any sport,
01:23 it will definitely prolong our careers in the sport that we love.
01:27 The armour is being designed to be versatile for most contact sports
01:31 and will be released in July.
01:33 Bond University plans to then run a clinical trial.
01:36 With that data, then we want to go to world rugby and then bring a standard into the game,
01:42 just like the mouth guards, where it is now mandatory for them to wear mouth guards.
01:47 [BLANK_AUDIO]
