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hen adidas made its first foray into lacrosse in 2007, it did so with big ambition.


The world’s second-biggest sportswear manufacturer signed a big name to endorse its products and distributed them in big-box stores. But not even the great John Grant Jr. could save adidas from itself. The three-stripe company lasted less than three years in lacrosse. “That approach did not connect with the consumer,” said Nick DeNeffe, product manager for lacrosse and hockey at adidas. “That’s not how this sport’s consumer operates.” DeNeffe should know. He’s a lacrosse junkie. He grew up playing the sport near Portland, Ore., and returned there after college to coach high school lacrosse. He co-founded Bridge City Lacrosse, a youth club program, in 2012. He plays indoor lacrosse during the winter.


A LASTING ENGAGEMENT


How adidas plans to win over the lacrosse world the second time around BY MATT DASILVA


“My wife jokes that she has to compete with lacrosse for my attention,” he said. After Reebok, a subsidiary of adidas, stopped its lacrosse production in December 2013, the parent company saw an opportunity to re-establish its brand in the nation’s fastest-growing team sport. It spent two years developing a new lacrosse product line. Whereas adidas licensed the now- defunct Henson Group to produce and distribute its lacrosse goods the first time around, this time, the company deployed its own designers and developers. The new adidas lacrosse line — including three heads, gloves, three elbow pads, two chest pads, goalie equipment, footwear and uniforms — launched in November 2015. Six different NCAA Division I programs — Bryant, Bucknell, Delaware, Denver (women), Iona and NJIT — are using everything in adidas’ hard goods lineup this season. It didn’t hurt that the offset head patent owned by Warrior Sports expired Dec. 5, 2015, allowing companies to produce heads without licensing fees. “It definitely helped push us over the edge of yes, let’s go now,” said Ryan Brown, senior director of lacrosse and team sports at adidas.


CRAZYQUICK CLEATS


$110


Lightweight cleats for quick cuts and confident edge play


No matter the sport, adidas’ bread and butter is its footwear. It’s no different for lacrosse. “It’s probably the most comfortable lacrosse cleat in the market,” said Nick DeNeffe, product manager for lacrosse and hockey at adidas. “It also has some very compelling design language, and those things are important to a lacrosse player.”


30 LACROSSE MAGAZINE » May 2016


BERSERKER GLOVES


$165


Flexible gloves for great grip and protection


In addition to breathability and moisture management, like the Crazyquick cleats, the Berserker gloves were built for comfort. “We blindfolded NCAA guys and current pros, had them wear our gloves and theirs and asked, ‘Which do you like better?’ And it is consistently No. 1 or 2 in terms of what they think is a very comfortable-feeling glove,” DeNeffe said.


ENRAYGE HEAD


$110


Narrow throat design for maximum ball retention


DeNeffe called the Enrayge adidas’ flagship head, engineered for accuracy, ball control and a quick release. “It’s more of an attack- oriented head, but the design language, the performance attributes, the offset, the weight — everything that we wanted to put into a really strong offensive head was accomplished with this one,” he said.


Asked about financial performance, DeNeffe responded, “We are tracking toward our targets, and that’s a win.” More importantly, DeNeffe said, the positive feedback from college and professional lacrosse players — especially for the Enrayge head, the Berserker gloves and the Crazyquick cleats — has validated the adidas lacrosse brand vision of style, culture and speed. He calls it “winning the locker room.”


“When you take into consideration what those three things represent, they all speak very closely to what lacrosse represents as a sport,” DeNeffe said. “If you don’t have substance, if you don’t truly care about this game, then it shows. If you’re just here to make product, anyone can do it. But we really see this as adidas making a lasting engagement into lacrosse.”


— M.D. A Publication of US Lacrosse


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