Researchers at Brooklyn College and University of Notre Dame to lead study's development
WASHINGTON, Aug. 20, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- SPRHRA (Superhera) is proud to announce its new Female Athlete Performance and Well-Being Study in partnership 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.
This survey-based study will gather valuable insights into how elite female athletes think and feel about, and perform in their sportswear. With a significant majority of female athletes feeling uncomfortable, restricted, and inhibited by their uniforms, according to prior research conducted by SPRHRA, this new study aims to revolutionize the future of elite female athletic gear and thus improve athletes' performance, comfort, and well-being.
Hejtmanek is a cultural anthropologist who studies cultures and processes of self-transformation such as female empowerment through strength sports and salvation through fitness regimens. She is a professor of anthropology and the Faculty Athletics Representative at Brooklyn College, and is a world and national champion in masters weightlifting.
Ocobock, an associate professor of anthropology at Notre Dame, is a human biologist who studies the physiological changes of humans in extreme conditions such as extreme cold or extreme levels of physical activity. Her research at the intersection of anthropology and sports has involved work with marathoners, hockey players, track and field athletes, and powerlifters, and she is currently developing a new research program on the anthropology of strength sports.
The scholars first collaborated on a COVID-19 research project investigating mental health, well-being, and exercise impacts during stay-at-home orders and gym closures. The present collaboration provides Hejtmanek and Ocobock with continued opportunity to see their research have real-life impacts on female athletes.
Additional development of the study comes from two female experts across elite women's athletics and women's sports: Marina Paul, Founder of SPRHRA and a former Division I soccer player, and Raquel Braun, Chief Growth Officer at SPRHRA and thought leader across women's sports and sports business. Their contributions serve as a continuation to further SPRHRA's mission to create elite-level sportswear based on female athletes' direct input so it fits right, improves their health, and gives them the freedom to perform.
"I've interviewed hundreds of female athletes to build our sportswear, and I hear and see the negative impact that sportswear can have on them," says SPRHRA Founder and former Division I soccer player, Marina Paul. "We hope this survey can help inform us on how to put female athletes, their performance, and their well-being first."
The study is now open for voluntary participation to women ages 18 and up here, where full terms and conditions can be found.
"Dr. Hejtmanek and I are excited to engage in this research together in order to better understand how female athletes think about their sportswear and how they perform in it," Ocobock says. "We are hopeful that the participants in this survey will help give us a much better understanding of female athletes' bodies in sports."
About SPRHRA
SPRHRA is on a mission to create a community, brand, and apparel line that gives female athletes the freedom to perform. Inspired by Founder Marina Paul's playing career when she realized a gap in sports apparel for female athletes, Marina wanted to curate female athlete apparel towards an unprecedented quartet: high-performance, precision, swagger, and freedom for female athletes' bodies. All SPRHRA pieces are built based on female athletes' feedback, optimized for their bodies specifically, made with Super Graphene Fabric that is tough enough for sports yet exceptionally gentle on bodies, and sustainably made in Los Angeles, CA.
Website: sprhra.com/
Media Contact
Sydney Kuhn, RAGDOLL PR, 1 4154975122 1, [email protected]
SOURCE RAGDOLL PR
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