Hong Kongers are generally more health conscious amid the resurgence of COVID-19 cases. They will stick to their workout routines while staying at home in their fight against the epidemic. Rope skipping, which can be done indoors at any time, has naturally become a popular choice for them. Cheung Pak- hung, who became a world champion in rope skipping for the second time early this year, launched a rope skipping fitness app amid the COVID-19 epidemic. The app enables rope skipping enthusiasts and beginners alike to follow professional guidance and demos to learn this sport step by step and even challenge difficulty while at home.
Cheung, who is a rope skipping aficionado, keeps practising to meticulously study highly difficult rope skipping moves and eventually became the world champion in 2018 and again this year. He studied Risk Management at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), but dropped out a year before graduating to pursue his dream. Cheung recalled that he was first exposed to rope skipping during his third year in secondary school and then gradually fell in love with such a sport that challenges difficulty and oneself. Later, he joined the ranks of athletes and once also served as the head coach of the Hong Kong team. With the two roles taking up most of his time, he inevitably faced a choice between continuing his study and switching to a career in sports. Eventually, he chose the latter.
Giving up HKU degree to focus on sports and entrepreneurship
“At that time, I had to take part in both individual and team competitions as well as to lead three teams of athletes to participate in the world championship, so it was difficult to continue with my university studies at the same time.” Cheung added that it happened at that time he found a suitable venue to rent and practise rope skipping, which could also help him achieve the goal of setting up Hong Kong Institute of Rope Skipping (HKIRS) to promote the sport locally. After careful consideration, he felt that a sports career is short and entrepreneurial opportunities are not common, while a university degree can be obtained through continuing education sometime later, so he decided to focus on training and competitions first. He then took the first step in starting a business.
HKIRS offers diverse services such as coaching, personal training, equipment sales and other venue training. Its business was gradually getting on track when the COVID-19 epidemic suddenly broke out. Cheung admitted that all classes and related teaching and promotion activities were greatly affected. Nevertheless, there are opportunities in every crisis. He found that many people are going out less often, but they also want to continue maintaining a healthy body through workouts. And rope skipping, which requires little space and can be done anytime and anywhere, is one of the most popular home workouts. Therefore, he decided to invest a six to seven-figure sum of money to develop an app. Later, he received funding and help to grow his company through participating in the Cyberport Incubation Programme and from iDendron (HKU’s Innovation & Entrepreneurship Hub).
ROJU has four main features and suits different levels
ROJU, which means “Rope Jump”, is also the name of Cheung’s rope skipping team. He explained that he named the app ROJU mainly to break the perception that rope skipping is merely a “children’s sport”, and through ROJU, he also wants to bring rope skipping into the life of more people amid the epidemic so that the sport can become a new “fitness concept”. Anyone who is interested in or curious about rope skipping can master the basics or even delve into more difficult moves with the easy-to-use app. “The ROJU app has four main features. They are ‘Step-by-Step’ video tutorials, personalised training, skills verification and certification by specialists, and rope-skipping community challenges and contests to ensure that the app is suitable for learners of different levels. The app can also be used as a communication platform for rope skipping enthusiasts to share their training experience and participate in virtual challenges or contests, encouraging each other and making progress together in a healthy competition.”
To achieve the set goals, Cheung stressed that the ROJU app stores hundreds of multi-angle rope skipping videos recorded by him. The videos, which were recorded in slow motion on iPhone 240fps, are categorised into different levels according to the rules of the world championship, which makes it convenient for users to learn “Step-by-Step” and gradually improve their level. Learning is equally “not difficult” even for those who have never been exposed to rope skipping and have to learn from scratch.
Tapping local market and exploring to add AI technology
Rope skipping burns four times more calories than running. Cheung is pleased to see that more and more Hong Kongers regard rope skipping as a fitness workout and then develop it into an interest. “As seen in the early days of the epidemic, there is greater demand for learning rope skipping in the UK, the US and the Philippines. The ROJU app’s active users have been mostly foreigners, but Hong Kongers now account for half of its users as they pay increasing attention to working out at home.”
Looking ahead, Cheung intends to further tap the local market to attract a wider range of age groups and even the general public to join the ranks of rope skipping, helping Hong Kongers cultivate the habit of working out at home to improve their physical and mental health. At the same time, he will actively promote rope skipping to the world.
Therefore, Cheung stressed that he plans to use the camera machine learning function developed by Apple to offer AI detection technology and a new feature to help users correct errors in their moves and manage the learning process more easily. He will also roll out more health-detecting features for the app, such as counting calories burned or detecting heartbeats. He hopes that these new features can work with Apple Watch’s health monitoring functions so that the ROJU app is not only for learning rope skipping, but also closely linked to building a healthy life for the public.
