I spend a lot of time listening and observing different roles in the sports world to make sure that we’re supporting every facet of the athlete experience here at Superhera. Most recently, I was talking and observing a friend who has a PT and strength training practice dedicated to high school and college athletics. One thing that I observed (and she confirmed) is that across the last few years, she’s seen a pretty big uptick in ACL tears and RED-S in female athletes. This isn’t an aberration, according to a recent article in the NYTimes, “Young female athletes are three to six times more likely than boys to tear an A.C.L., and in a recent 15-year period, across a dozen sports in U.S. high schools, the rate of A.C.L. injuries among girls jumped 32 percent, more than double the increase among boys.” 

This got me thinking about Marina's prediction in last week’s newsletter  — that we're about to see a wave of women-specific FemTech. The acceleration in FemTech investment is a good thing, but it’s optimizing at the top of a stack whose foundation nobody's checked. Gear touches the body every day, before any sensor, monitor, or recovery tool comes into play. Data optimizes around the body; gear fits to the body. You can't optimize a system whose base layer doesn't fit.

Major investments in FemTech and women's sports both assume the physical infrastructure is solid. It isn't.

Last week we asked, “How much of the data you collect on your athletes do you actually act on?”  49% of you told us you're either drowning in data or collecting more than you use — meanwhile, the most fundamental data about your athletes (does their gear fit?) is often the data no one's collecting.

When do we learn to listen to ourselves more, to trust our own instincts about what we each need?

If you are not familiar, Superhera partnered with anthropologists Katie Rose Hejtmanek of Brooklyn College, CUNY and Cara Ocobock of the University of Notre Dame to better understand how sportswear impacts performance, health, and mentality. The full study is available here. In this comprehensive study on uniform fit and athletic performance, there was a pair of data points that really stood out to me: 

Many athletic programs already invest in nutrition, sports medicine, and strength training partly to prevent Female Athlete Triad and RED-S, both of which raise the risk of musculoskeletal injuries like an ACL tear. But 39% of female athletes are restricting food to fit gear that wasn't designed for them. Every dollar spent downstream on RED-S prevention is being partially undone by the uniform they put on.  In a time when budgets are tight, most programs are operating with a budget conflict they don’t realize that they have. Even further, the lack of dedicated design and data can have a snowball effect on performance.

“That lack of data on female athletes can have a dangerous ripple effect. Poorly designed equipment can mean bad performances on the field. Bad performances can then lead to a perceived lack of quality in women’s sports, which turns away spectators and media coverage and can lead to reduced economic opportunities for professional female athletes.” - Harvard Office of Technology Development, “Sports equipment designed for women, by women”

According to Voice In Sport’s profile, The Future of Women’s Specific Professional Athlete Facilities, several WNBA and NWSL teams are investing in sport facilities design specifically for female athletes to create an environment that is built with the resources, spaces, and facilities that support the unique needs of women–not the same old “Shrink It and Pink It” mentality. “Purpose-built” facilities aren’t a vanity project; they’re an investment in female athletes’ potential and in the future viability of female professional sports, period. 

Superhera’s technology supports this very mission. Our sizing intelligence technology is purpose-built to support the unique differences between male and female athletes. Our sizing recommendations are based on the data of real female athletes and we provide fit insights based on how each SKU fits on the female body. Superhera is the layer beneath everything else. Before the sensors, before the recovery tools, before the nutrition plans — the gear touching the body. If you're already investing in female athletes, this is where that investment starts paying off. That's the difference that makes a difference. 

Our sizing intelligence technology is purpose-built to support the unique differences between male and female athletes. Our sizing recommendations are based on the data of real female athletes and we provide fit insights based on how each SKU fits on the female body. Superhera is the layer beneath everything else. Before the sensors, before the recovery tools, before the nutrition plans — the gear touching the body. If you're already investing in female athletes, this is where that investment starts paying off. That's the difference that makes a difference. 

— Leah

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