Nobull Court Trainer Debut Ready For Tennis, Variety Of Sports

Nobull has taken to the court. The footwear brand known for CrossFit and fitness training shoes added a performance running model in February 2022. They’ve followed that up with an April launch of the Court Trainer, a silhouette meant for any court surface, including tennis and basketball.

“We are always looking to design functional footwear that offers choice to our community and meets them where they are,” says Mark Balint, vice president of footwear design, “in this case, on the court. Our community and athletes train on a variety of surfaces and we found an opportunity to create a specialized trainer that provides functional support on any court surface.”

While not designed specifically for tennis, Nobull says the Court Trainer was built to move on a variety of court surfaces and work for a mix of sports, primarily tennis, basketball, volleyball and racquetball, with a focus on multi-directional movements.

Balint says the traction and grip of the herringbone tread pattern grants flexibility and grip for use on a court, the toe bumper of the Court Trainer is optimized for quick pivots and toe drags when moving and landing in any direction, the tongue is padded to avoid “lace bite” during movement and an internal lace webbing system adds additional stability and lock-down.

“The Court Trainer features an adjusted midsole and outsole design to provide additional stability and comfort for multi-directional jumping and landing,” Balint says. “The increased EVA midsole height offers more cushioning and improved comfort.” The design also features additional heel and collar padding. The upper is a seamless, one-piece construction of the brand’s SuperFabric, found on many of the trainer models on the market.

Founded by Reebok alums Marcus Wilson and Michael Schaeffer in Boston in 2015 with a focus on the functional fitness space, the direct-to-consumer company has continued its growth with an ever-widening fitness focus. Over 300 NFL athletes train in Nobull, even though the brand doesn’t have a cleat, and athletes across every major sport, from tennis to basketball and the Olympics to the NHL (a large chunk of the NHL’s Boston Bruins train in the hometown product) compliment the more than a dozen sponsored CrossFit athletes. Nobull has NFL players Will Grier and Mac Jones signed, along with Olympic swimmer Caeleb Dressel.

When designing the Court Trainer, Ballint says the brand, which now has a growing research and development lab in Vermont, took the same approach as with all their products: “keep it simple, with everything that you need and mothering that you don’t.”

The April launch features an initial three colors—black gum, white gum and dusty rose—and Balint says the brand will see what the response is to the new silhouette before evaluating opportunities that require different design elements. “Our Court Trainer is more versatile than a simple tennis shoe,” he says, “and offers more opportunities to athletes training on any court surface.”