Mizuno shoes for badminton

Hello there!

This is not a review, but I thought I would just share my experience with Mizuno shoes, in particular the ones made for volleyball, when you use them for the sport of badminton.

Let me start off by saying that Mizuno makes some sick shoes - the designs on these put the rest to shame. The Japanese brand probably makes the best-designed sport shoes I have ever seen.

I have and do own a couple of Mizuno shoes. four pairs to be exact. The Wave Lightning 7, Wave Fang VS, Wave Bolt 2, and Wave Tornado 8. All of the above, save the Wave Fang, are designed for volleyball.

When you put on you very first pair of volleyball shoes for badminton, you can feel that it rises a few centimetres above the ground. Badminton shoes tend to have thinner soles so that you've able to switch directions and "feel" the courts easier. The Mizuno volleyball shoes come with a Mizuno Wave technology that puts a wave at the heel of your shoe and rises it by quite a substantial amount.

The wave technology also places a plastic sole in between the rubber one and your shoe, while that helps to absorb even more shock and give a volleyball player a little more boost when they jump, I have found out that the same plastic sheet can actually be quite detrimental to my game of badminton.

Playing singles today, I felt the court to be a little slippery, and took caution not to move to vigorously. I then found over time that it was actually the plastic sheet that slips and slides when I carry out my footwork.

Notice how thin the rubber heel looks here.
Too much a stretch and you'll be doing the splits. 

My game really took a hit, and the movement around the court suffered as a result. In fact, I do remember slipping falling while doing a longer than usual stretch. The plastic part caught the ground instead of the rubber heel and I literally did a split.

So players out there with the same shoes as I do, take heed.

If you're reading this and experience the same, do let give a shoutout.