The New Zealand Sport Collective (NZSC), Whakaata Māori (Māori Television) and the university have teamed up to deliver the large-scale livestreaming and nationwide broadcast coverage of the summer tournament week, which ends this weekend.
Otago master of data science student and team leader Sarah Fadhila Putri said at peak times up to 36 simultaneous livestreams were being delivered across a wide range of sports, including water polo, softball, volleyball, ultimate frisbee and basketball.
The students were working under the experienced guidance of an external producer, to process live tournament footage from around the country, which was centrally managed, quality-controlled and enhanced with features such as live commentary, advertising integration and safeguarding protocols to ensure the appropriate protection of young athletes within a broadcast and sponsorship environment.
It was livestreamed free to about 250,000 viewers on
MĀORI+ YouTube, along with te reo Māori and English live commentary.
Miss Fadhila Putri said the students worked in shifts across each day — from 8am to 10pm — to manage the livestreams, and it was logistically challenging at times.
But the experience had given them great insight into how a television station was run.
‘‘It’s a really good opportunity for us, because we can manage how the sports coverage is collected all over New Zealand, and then we actually have to make it optimised for the streams going on.
‘‘It’s such a nice experience for us to do everything.
‘‘We managed it very well.’’
Miss Fadhila Putri said when she started her degree at Otago, she initially hoped to graduate and go into data engineering or maybe AI engineering.
‘‘But because I have this experience, I’m now hoping that I can go to this field [television production].’’
The coverage follows a successful pilot partnership programme in 2025, in which a keen group of Otago students worked tirelessly in a central production hub to cover the New Zealand Secondary Schools Winter Tournament Week.
The project is led by the NZSC — a collaboration of 35 national sporting organisations and event partners, working together to grow funding, boost participation and deliver social benefits.
NZSC chief executive Rob Waddell said he was proud of the work his organisation was doing alongside the university and Whakaata Māori.
‘‘It’s a simple but powerful way of delivering high-quality coverage of these games, making them accessible to whānau and friends who may not otherwise be able to attend due to time or cost.’’
Last year’s broadcasts generated more than 600,000 views, including about 300,000 unique viewers.
It was a clear indication of the strong national appetite for accessible school sport coverage.
Miss Fadhila Putri said it was hoped the students would be able to provide livestream coverage again later this year, for the New Zealand Secondary Schools Winter Tournament.
