We Had A Blast at the Nike Young Athlete’s Innovation Summit!

I told you the other day we were heading to the Nike Campus in Beaverton Oregon for the Nike Young Athletes Innovation Summit. We had such a wonderful time yesterday!

We learned so much great information about Nike as a company, their philosophies, products, drive for innovation, commitment to athletes (both every day and elite), their commitment to young athletes, history, the Nike Campus, and the companies beliefs. I learned soooo much, and I was soooo impressed by the company I don’t even know where to begin!

My son and I had one of the best, and most memorable days of our lives. He was a big Nike fan before the trip, now I think he’s over the moon impressed with them. I’ve always liked Nike, and the quality of their products, but I don’t know if I preferred them over other brands. After seeing their commitment to improvement, and the background that goes into product development I’m now a really big Nike fan myself.

The Nike staff and hospitality made the trip such a fabulous event. A member of the Nike team greeted us at the airport, and made sure we found our way to our ride to the Nines Hotel in downtown Portland. When we arrived in our hotel room we discovered some Nike gear, and munchies were there to meet us.

My son received a Nike duffel bag, with promises there would be a surprise to put in it the next day. I also received a duffel bag, but mine had some really cool Nike gear inside, including a fluorescent green pair of Nike Free Running shoes, a sports bra, pink tank, and a mesh top to put over the top. Guess what I’m wearing to my Zumba class this week?

We got up bright and early the next morning to be picked up by the Nike staff, and headed out to the Nike Campus. My son and I got to share the event with several other bloggers and their children. I knew several of them online before the event, but this was the first time I’d met most of them in person. We had a wonderful time getting to know each other over dinner the night before, and the kids all got to be fast friends during the program. The day was action packed with so many fun activities and presentations it’s hard to narrow things down! I think I’m going to end up with several posts, but I want to share a quick summary of what we got to see and experience here. I’ll be back to add links to articles with more detail over the next couple days! Here are some of the highlights of the Nike Young Athletes Innovation Summit:

• We got to take a tour of the Nike Sport Research lab, and check out some of the things they use in their research and innovation to develop new Nike products. The kids got to test out some of the different stations, like the slow motion camera, and the pressure sensor foot plates (here’s a photo of my son getting the results of his test after he walked across).

• We got to tour some of the Nike Campus, and it was very impressive! It includes several buildings, a wetland, an authentic Japanese garden with 65 cherry trees all looking beautiful this time of year.

• A Skype interview with women’s soccer superstar Mia Hamm.

• The kids got to go rock climbing, swimming, and got to meet Olympic runner Amy Begley. They also got to design their own shoes at NikeID.

• We got to hear presentations on the new Nike Free line, the innovations Nike is making in their children’s footwear, their commitment to making young athletes successful, new products they have coming out in the next year for young athletes, and so much more! I definitely have more on that in another post coming in the next day or so!

• We were able to tour one of Nike’s impressive childcare development centers.

At the end of the day the kids all had a poster summary of what they did, and some of the things they enjoyed most. I’m hoping I can get Wade to elaborate a little on some of the things he did so I can share a little more about them here from his perspective. Either way I’ll definitely be back to share my thoughts on our wonderful day, and to share all of the experiences above in more detail!

Kids Nike FREE Run: If your feet flex, shouldn’t your shoes flex too? Must-have flexibility for young feet.

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Nike via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Nike.