The Carlton players were reminded of the motto, Just Do It, when two Nike guests were introduced to the team on the ground prior to training on Wednesday. Nike CEO Australia, Paul Zadoff and Nike’s director of Corporate Education, Nelson Farris met with a number of players prior to the session and then joined the coaching staff in the middle of the ground as the players went through there warm up.

For Nelson, who is based at Nike’s headquarters in Oregon, USA, it was his first experience of AFL in person having only seen games on television. Nelson is a Nike veteran of 34 years having been one of the original employees in Portland, Oregon. He was at Nike soon after it was founded by Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman and the first Nike shoes with the swoosh had been manufactured. A senior executive at Nike, Nelson’s role involves explaining the company’s heritage to everyone in the organisation, in particular telling them about people getting things done, stories that people can learn from.

Stories such as how Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman, an athletics coach, after deciding that his team needed better running shoes, went out to his workshop and poured rubber into the family waffle iron, they’re not just stories about how Nike’s famous “waffle sole” was born. They’re talking about the spirit of innovation. The corporate-storytelling program commenced in the late 1970s as an hour long session given to new employees, today the orientation lasts two days and the story of Nike’s heritage is the first item on the agenda. The belief is that winning company’s hold on to their values and for Nike that is what the co-founders developed, understanding what teamwork is – keeping promises, keeping commitments.

Such values are relevant at the Carlton Football Club and Paul Zadoff believes AFL is a great example of how important teamwork is and following the training session Nelson agreed. Certainly his kicking style left plenty to work on and it is fair to say that for him to succeed in the game right away he would require a team-mate running by to kick the ball in a manner that would benefit the team.

However he did manage a goal with just his third kick of the football, even if it was from just 20 metres out directly in front!

What does Nike mean?

Nike, pronounced NI-KEY, is the winged goddess of victory according to Greek mythology. She sat at the side of Zeus, the ruler of the Olympic pantheon, in Olympus. A mystical presence, symbolizing victorious encounters, Nike presided over history's earliest battlefields. A Greek would say, "When we go to battle and win, we say it is Nike." Synonymous with honored conquest, Nike is the twentieth century footwear that lifts the world's greatest athletes to new levels of mastery and achievement. The Nike 'Swoosh' embodies the spirit of the winged goddess who inspired the most courageous and chivalrous warriors at the dawn of civilization. The SWOOSH logo is a graphic design created by Caroline Davidson in 1971. It represents the wing of the Greek Goddess Nike. Caroline Davidson was a student at Portland State University interested in advertising. She met Phil Knight while he was teaching accounting classes and she started doing some freelance work for his company. Phil Knight asked Caroline to design a logo that could be placed on the side of a shoe. She handed him the SWOOSH, he handed her $35.00. In spring of 1972, the first shoe with the Nike SWOOSH was introduced..........the rest is history!

From Nikebiz.com