With most of the team away on exam leave, boarding student Sam Littlejohn was on hand to showcase the Kaha Recovery kit.
A group of St Peter’s students came away from the Young Enterprise Scheme (YES) Regional Awards on October 26 with the prestigious Innovation Award, recognising their creative expertise in making their sports product known as Kaha Recovery kits.
The kits were conceived by team members Fergus Griffin and Ben Johnson at their First 15 rugby final last year, and developed this year along with the rest of their team – Mark Hazelton, Ricky Yeung, Matt Austin, Hamish Flett and Sam Littlejohn.
The Kaha Recovery team at the Awards evening.
Littlejohn, the team’s marketing director, said it had been a year of learning and growth developing the product for the Young Enterprise Scheme.
“You learn so much more actually doing it than if you were just doing internal (assessments) and writing about it, when you actually put it in to practice you remember it more and realise the practicalities behind everything,” Littlejohn said. “And that’s something you would take with you more so than if you were just studying it for an exam.”
After developing their product – which includes a foam roll for sore legs and muscles, a massage ball for more specific aches and pains, stretch bands for both warming down and exercise, a protein shaker and drink bottle – the team quickly learned the importance of sales.
“We definitely learnt straight away that you can’t just let people come to you, you’ve got to get out there and tell everyone,” said Littlejohn.
The students received nearly 100 percent top marks in their judging assessment, only losing a few points for not having the “YES” logo on their product. “They completed all elements of it, including the YES exam, Dragons Den events, the NCEA side of it… every single bit was completed, and to good standard throughout,” said the students’ business studies teacher, Chris Macleod.
Although the Year 13 students have now broken up for the year, each student still has a few Kaha Recovery kits available for purchase.
