When it comes to athletics, women are generally preoccupied with two things, and it’s not winning or losing.

It’s about finding a sports bra good enough to support the “team” by taking the jiggle out of high-bounce activities such as running, hockey and horseback riding.
Brigitte Lessard and Sue Deyell are helping women in the quest for an immovable chest through their Calgary store, Sportsbras.ca, where the sports bra is recognized as the essential piece of equipment for the athletic woman.

“It’s amazing how important it is for women and how it is such a huge deal, especially when you’re bigger, like a D cup and over, because then they’re able to do the things they want to do,” said Lessard.
Sportsbras.ca recently experienced a huge boost in sales after daytime TV guru Oprah Winfrey hailed the Enell Sports Bra as her favourite on her May 12 show.
Lessard has sold the Enell, which is designed for larger bustlines, for the past five years. Lessard and Deyell, who both play hockey, say they wear nothing but.
“And we can both relate to not being able to find a supportive bra for a larger-breasted woman,” says Deyell with a laugh. Deyell is also the cohost of the Q107  Morning Show on the Calgary FM radio station.
The impact of Oprah’s comments was instant, Lessard said.
The phone started ringing off the hook. Women flocked to the store in the city’s northeast to buy the Enell.
One drove in all the way from Springbank right after the show and snapped up six of the $85 sports bras, Lessard said.

Faxes and e-mail orders poured in, with the Sportsbras.ca website getting 20,000 hits in the following 24-hour period.

 Lessard has ordered 300 more Enell bras to keep pace with the demand.
The reaction to the Oprah segment demonstrates just how hard it’s been to find a good supportive sports bra in Canada, never mind Calgary, Deyell said, noting the store has shipped bras to Toronto and Newfoundland.
Given that many larger-breasted women had stopped running because they found it too painful, they’re liberated when they try on a heavy-duty support bra like the Enell or the equally popular Shock Absorber, she said.

“What makes us feel so good about being in this business is how happy you can make women who weren’t able to do those things before,” Deyell said.

Lessard adds many women say it’s changed their lives.

“We have people screaming of joy, and I’m not exaggerating,” she said.
“One was here with her husband, and she’s bouncing like a kangaroo showing him how they’re not moving.”
Lessard, former owner of The Women’s Sports Store in Kensington, got the idea for Sportsbras.ca as she was closing her business due to increased competition from big box retailers.
Two things happened: her customers were upset because they wouldn’t be able to get a good sports bra elsewhere in Calgary, and sports bras were the bestselling item in the store.
Sensing she was on to something, Lessard did some research and discovered no one in Canada specialized in sports bras.

 Most sports stores carry maybe three styles for B cups, but women with bigger busts were out of luck, she said. Then there was the male issue.

 “Most sports stores are male-operated, so first of all, they don’t know, and they’re not comfortable and they don’t understand,” Lessard said.

Lessard talked Deyell into partnering in the new business venture.

Sportsbras.ca opened in 2004 with 30 different styles and the logo “Less Bounce For Your Buck!”
The store currently carries 45 different top-of-the-line sports bras, from a stitchless marathon bra designed to prevent chaffing to protective bras from New Zealand for contact sports like karate, kick-boxing, rugby and soccer.

Prices range from $37 to $94, and sizes range from 32 A cup all the way up to an 52 KK (think Dolly Parton) displayed on the wall.
“We have many styles, so they don’t get that mono-boob look of the typical pull-over sports bra,” Deyell said.

Customers can shop online or come into the store, at 2219 35th Ave. N.E., for an expert fitting.

Business has taken off since the Oprah show, prompting a move upstairs to a larger space in August.

There’ll be three change rooms instead of one, an entertainment corner for the kids, and a comfortable, chick-friendly environment for fittings.
    “Even if (the big box retailers) start carrying some of the bras we have, they won’t be able to compete with us on that side of things,” Lessard said.
Sportsbras.ca opened in 2004 with 30 different styles of bras for athletic women. Its logo reads, “Less Bounce For Your Buck!”
Sales took off after Oprah Winfrey touted her favourite brand of sports bras on her TV show earlier this year.
Customers can shop online or come into the store at 2219 35th Ave. N.E.
Prices range from $37 to $94, and sizes from 32 A cup all the way to 52 KK (think Dolly Parton). GTEEL@THEHERALD.CANWEST.COM