There is little doubt that our future is being shaped by science and technology and sport will play a massive role in how those areas are taught and understood by the next generations of students.
In a survey of secondary school pupils carried out by BT as part of the launch of the 2017 BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, 33 per cent said that they would like to pursue a career in sports science, while 53 per cent said they would like to see sports science added to the schools curriculum.
The simple fact is that sport is the best window there is on how complex technological advances can be made accessible, understood by a mass audience and embraced as something that can make an immediate difference.
The number of sports related projects in the competition, which takes place at the RDS in January, has soared in recent years and this summer’s twin delights of the Euros followed by the Olympics and Paralympic Games will add further to the weight given to sport by teachers and students.
Check out the sporting projects that caught our eye at this year’s Exhibition
Previously Sport for Business has worked with BT to highlight the sporting projects as part of a members event that takes place in parallel to the main event and it is hoped we will be doing so again in 2017, off the back of the major Sports and Tech event we are involved in for October.
“The natural interest that students have in sport is driving their choice of projects around areas including protection against head injuries, gloves that protect the hands and ways to make sport more accessible,” said BT Ireland Managing Director Shay Walsh talking to Sport for Business at the launch yesterday.
“Nurturing and fostering home grown talent and innovation is really important to us.”
“It’s imperative that we support our youth to dream big and advance their ambitions in whatever field interests them.”
“The BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition is a platform for young people to experiment and explore their ambitions.”
The research also asked students and parents which sports had most effectively embraced technology and the two that emerged as strongest were golf and rugby.
A sign of the rapid pace of change lies in that fact that parents thought the embrace of technology had been stronger, an indication that the changes we see are already accepted as just being the norm in students eyes.
This will be the 17th year of BT’s involvement with the exhibition, and it is also the fourth year of its support for Irish Olympic Gymnast Kieran Behan who flew over for the day to produce the dramatic images we see here, including a behind the lens shot of Dan Sheridan and Billy Stickland of Inpho.ie setting up the shot.
This was Behan’s first trip to Ireland since qualification alongside team mate Ellis O’Reilly for the Rio Games. After taking the shots at Grand Canal Dock yesterday he was being whisked back to the airport to catch a flight back to his London base so he would not miss training.
“I enjoy being involved in something like this which promotes the sport to young people but also which encourages them to follow their dreams and take what support they can find to really go for it,” he said while packing up his gear.
The Stars lifting Gymnastics to new heights in Ireland
How has technology impacted on the world of sports wear and performance? Join us at a global gathering of sports and technology leaders in Dublin at Sports & Tech in the RDS on October 17th and 18th with speakers from The Golden State Warriors and the US Olympic Committee among this already confirmed.
