At Berkhamsted Schools Group, we believe that sport is essential to every child’s schooling experience. With over 1,139 pupils in the Senior School playing competitive fixtures across 16 sports, we want to build confidence, develop character and encourage lifelong participation.
As part of our commitment to ensuring that every pupil feels supported to play, girls in Year 7 to Year 13 were recently invited to attend a Sports Bra workshop. This was run by PEBE, a company that designs sports bras based on research into breast tissue movement and its effect on performance.
Sophie from PEBE spoke candidly to pupils about breast health, using statistics and diagrams to help pupils visualise how breast tissue moves during exercise. Pupils were surprised to learn that an uncomfortable or poorly fitting sports bra can reduce stride length by as much as 4cm, and increase the likelihood of ACL injuries by 4%. Her refreshing openness in discussing this often-taboo topic encouraged pupils to share their own experiences and debunk common myths.
Sophie shared, “At PEBE we absolutely love coming into schools, because we want to empower the girls with the knowledge to be able to shop for a sports bra and know what to look for.” “We want them to be able to be performing at their best, but also enjoying it as much as possible and not letting breast movement be a barrier to exercise!”
After the talk, pupils had the opportunity to be fitted correctly for a sports bra themselves. This offered our girls a welcoming environment to ask questions and discuss breast health openly with knowledgeable specialists from the PEBE team.
At a time of iconic success in women’s sport, marked by the unforgettable recent victories of the Lionesses and Red Roses, the importance of investing in research that supports female athletes has never been clearer. We hope these workshops have empowered our pupils to better understand their breast health and feel confident exercising for life without discomfort or limitation.