Nike reps have their eyes on Badminton Club Company looks to OSU for help in dsigning first badminton shoe by C.J Conrad The Daily Barometer Ching-chia Ko, president of OSU's Badminton Club, e-mailed members with a reminder to wear clean socks to last Thursday's practice. After all, it isn't every day that a Nike research and development team wants their help in designing its first badminton shoe. Ko, a third-year doctoral candidate in math education, was thrilled with Nike's interest. She is tired of searching far and wide for proper equipment -- especially shoes. "We can only get them on the Internet or overseas," she said. This was not her first run-in with Nike. Last year, she contacted the shoe giant about sponsoring a tournament at OSU. "They told us they wouldn't sponsor something so small," she said. Small? Badminton tournaments routinely fill Wimbledon-sized arenas in Europe and Asia. The game is one of the world's fastest-growing sports. Yonex is the major player in badminton supplies. Nike has decided it wants a piece of the action. Ironically, this time it's Nike who needs Ko's help -- and she's glad to provide it. Nike sent two designers, Jonathan Johnson-Griffin and Alexandre Baudouin, to Langton gym Thursday night to shoot video and distribute surveys that could lead to the creation of a prototype shoe. "We just want to be a sponge to see what's out there. Our market is the average player," Johnson-Griffin said. The designers spent most of the evening filming and interviewing various players. Club vice president He Min, a second-year doctoral candidate in agricultural and resource economics, is a 16-year veteran of the sport. He played professionally in China and hopes his input will lead to improvements in badminton shoes. The developers observed a cross section of players, ranging from intermediate to advanced. They want to make a shoe that will appeal to a broad range of people. Badminton, though, is a difficult game to research. Stephen Harvey, a graduate student in exercise and sport science and badminton instructor, was closely monitored by the researchers. His lightning footwork was tough to catch on video, causing Johnson-Griffin to shake his head in frustration. "This game's hard to film because it moves so fast," he said. Baudouin, a Nike biomechanics researcher, said the company's interest in badminton is an ongoing process. "We wanted to try to gain exposure to badminton as a sport," he said. "The goal is to try to learn as much as we can." The Nike reps said they would continue to send researchers to Badminton Club practices. They plan to monitor a tournament that will be held in Langton gym on Feb. 26. "It's about time somebody does something so we can buy shoes around here," Ko said. C.J. Conrad, staff writer
What and where is exactly this "OSU" is? I am in OSU, the Ohio State University, but there is no badminton club here.
It's the Oregon State University. They do have a badminton club, with a mailing list but apparently no web page.
From Nike's web page, the company's founders are alumnus of Oregon State University, and the company's headquarters is based in Oregon. Probably also in Corvallis.
A little bit "Johnny come lately" for Nike. I am sure they have more than enough resource and reference points for research into badminton. Hopefully this is a sign of positive changing trend for the sport.
After shoes, can't wait to see female badminton players start wearing new Nike dresses like the ones worn by Sharapova and Myskina in Australian Open.
it's about time, yonex is making a killing on badminton only shoes. Hardly any competition around. Nike practically has a shoe(or more) for every sport out there except badminton. I wrote to nike about this about ~6 yrs ago and they told me where to go... http://www.badmintonforum.com/vb/showthread.php?t=635&highlight=nike+shoes
yea about time nike does something.but nike would really need to put in alot of effort as yonex has alreadydeveloped many highend shoes.maybe they can appeal to those who play badminton for recreation,as maybe those players may want to look trendy..just a suggestion.
yea, nike doesnt has close association with badminton players or organization so they'll work on the amatuer players need.
Some people where I play wear the Nike Multicourt, it's a not bad badminton trainer but not too durable. I have also tried out the Air Genuine III which I think is more of a tennis shoe with an air bubble with a vey low sole so is good for badminton because of the extra cusioning and the strengthening along the dragable edge by extra leather from the toe area down past the ball of the foot. Only down point is that they are noticably heavy compared to lightweight Yonex.
I had a pair of Nike Quickcourt trainers about eight years ago. It is peculiar that they need to redesign a shoe when they used to make on for the same purpose. They had easily the best gripping sole I have ever played in. They were light enough for badminton and had an air cushioned sole which was excellent for training. However, they only lasted about three months.
I am not trying to put down OSU badminton club. I am sure they have loads of good players over there. However, with regular club lvl player, won't Nike worry about they are mis-leading? I mean, some players might just showed totally wrong footwork. That's why u don't see Nike video taping joe high school players (not LeBrown James type) to design a new basketball shoe. It will be a nightmare their product design got mis-lead, and end up like chaos. When Nike design/promote new design basketball/tennis/football shoes, they always video taping the pros. Of course, 1st that's a good promotion. More important, the tape shows the CORRECT movements. Then, it will give good reference in design. It's not too hard to get the guys to OCBC (US national team training facility?), and tape the movements from pros. Once the shoes are 1st release, they can bring it to OSU, and benefit their fellow buddies. I might think too much, but if I am the manager over there, I will think the "data collection" process from a local club is way tooooooooo risky...
Is this true? Is it really so difficult to buy shoes there? I guess when I played badminton in Canada, it was still possible to buy low-cut basketball shoes and volleyball or other court shoes from Asics so it didn't seem to be so much of a problem. Still, if Yonex has a virtual monopoly on the market now and they don't distribute retail in North America now then why would Nike making a shoe for the same market make any difference? I mean Nike adding a badminton shoe to a Nike store's shelves wouldn't be so different from a store selling Yonex raquets adding Yonex shoes to its shelves, would it?
it is true that it is not easy to get badminton shoes. they are only sold in specialty badminton stores and no where else. the availability is not limited to Yonex though, when one finds a proper badmintons shop, other brands suchs as Hi-Tec are also availlable.
Nike is well-known in marketing, especially their ability in finding/creating a sport star, such as Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, and Michelle Wei. If they really want to promote something, they can always put as much money on media to create a fashion. Before Tiger Woods, golf is just a sport for rich people, but now you see? The only problem is, this star need to be an american, and somehow good-looking, and have enough tournaments(media exposure) to play in U.S. So the problem is, could we find such a genius U.S teenager? Such a pity that Peter Gade or Camilla Martin are not american, or badminton will be just like the golf today.
yup, unfortunately that's how marketing is these days. eg. would yao ming got deals with mcdonalds, pepisco, reebok, and ability to sue coke cola while back in china? h-- no. He got all this after he step his big feet in the US of A. Having basketball as a mainstream sport already helps too.
I guess you are right. Despite the sponsorship deals netted by the likes of Yao Ming or Hakeem Olajuwon in the high-profile sport of basketball, they were never more than marginal figures in terms of branding . Ironically, one of the best badminton players in the world DOES live in America, though I have never seen Tony Gunawan play since he moved there. Even if he is a genius, he certainly is not a teenager and is not really American. He also lacks a world-class partner so even if there were high-enough profile U.S. events, other than this year's World Championships, he wouldn't enjoy any limelight.
