Learners mix sport and exercise with community-spirited projects

Otago Polytechnic’s annual Student Showcase kicks off on Friday, 5 November, with an “in-house” event at our Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health.

Based at the Sargood Centre, Logan Park, Dunedin, our Bachelor of Applied Science learners will provide their peers and whānau with insights into their projects, many of which have focused on real-world, community-minded outcomes.

The projects include:

• a tennis coaching business and website that has connections not only to tennis clubs but also to Tennis NZ programmes
• working with primary and secondary school pupils in Taieri and providing a link from schools to clubs to keep students participating in sport, post-secondary school 
• working with Otago Rugby to educate rural secondary school students about opportunities in Dunedin for continuing playing pugby and to promote wellbeing
• implementing a holistic health programme to local secondary school students to help them transition to tertiary study
• the development of an app that matches running cadence to the beats-per-minute of popular music.

The latter project is the brainchild of Jordan Frost, whose rationale was based on a concern that runners are often out of step with the music they are listening to while training.

“There has been much research into the negative physical effects of listening to ‘asynchronous’ music when running,” Jordan explains.

“For example, when changing cadence — and effectively being out of step with music – one might increase the risk of injury or exertion.

“The objective for my project was to create a mock-up music and running app. This will be displayed through a video that communicates how to use the app when running.

“The mock-up will provide participants with a visual, interactive, and audio experience of the app. The feedback participants provide will then help me with the development process of my app.

“It’s a music and running app that enables users to be able to match the bpm of the song with their running cadence. Users would find their beat, select their tempo, and off they go!

“During my research, an online survey of 80 participants, I found the most popular genre to listen to when running was pop. I also found that the majority (57%) of runners focused on the beat of the song when choosing what to listen to.”