Children enjoy rhythm of new exercise program

University of the Sunshine Coast (USC) researchers have taken a close look at a new form of physical activity, called ZOVA, and liked what they saw.

USC psychologists Dr Rachael Sharman and Dr Geoff Lovell and human development specialist Associate Professor Michael Nagel studied a recent six-week trial of ZOVA among primary students at Stretton State College in Brisbane.

They said the program showed promising signs that it could encourage greater physical activity, particularly among children who previously didn't exercise much, leading to both physical and psychological benefits.

ZOVA has been developed by Brisbane-based entrepreneurs, James Tonkin and Niall McCarthy, who believe it will prove useful in education, fitness and community sectors as well as for elite athletes in major sporting teams.

Dr Sharman said unlike many school exercise programs that focus on competitive team-based sports, this new program instructed participants in sports skills using rhythm and exercises that could be done individually and in a non-competitive way.

The USC academics are preparing a comprehensive presentation about the program for this year's Australian Psychological Society Conference in Cairns in October. However, in advance of this presentation, their preliminary findings have suggested that ZOVA could play an important role in keeping more kids healthy well into adulthood.

Dr Sharman said that ZOVA's "non-traditional" approach to physical exercise (not team-based and not competitive) was one of its key strengths.

She added "ZOVA particularly appeared to engage students who initially nominated themselves as 'low exercisers' and those children reported substantial increases in physical activity following their participation in the ZOVA program.

"This would appear to support the hypothesis that for students who are not engaging in traditional physical education programs that are often competitive and team-based, alternative physical activity programs can be successful in motivating them to engage in higher levels of physical activity."

https://zova.com/