On a sunny September 11^th morning – my birthday! – our OMBA class found ourselves at Woodward Beijing, an action sports property on the outskirts of the city – quite a drive from our hotel. Woodward is an action sports and gymnastics company, which originated in the US, but has made its way to China. We toured and played around in the largest indoor skate/BMX park in the world, which features a full, competition-sized vert ramp in, along with foam pits for soft landings to tricks. This facility is located on a resort campus, which also offers golf, tennis, badminton, billiards, swimming, fishing, bowling, shuffleboard, an outdoor plaza, video games, and arts and crafts, as well as housing for 300+ people. Woodward is starting to expand training facilities to winter action sports and trampoline.

As of now, day trips to the park are the most common. At $10/day, and with shuttles running to the nearest subway stop 10 miles away, some kids in Beijing are able to make it out there on the weekends to enjoy action sports.  The director explained to us that they are largely using Weibo (Chinese Twitter) for marketing purposes, putting on events periodically and drawing action sports athletes from all over China and the world.

Woodward Beijing is looking to camps and education for the future of the facility. It recently started digital media camps featuring film and photography, in addition to its action sports camps. This summer, Woodward Beijing had around 20 campers. The challenge has been getting parents on board and breaking the culture code in China, where there is a struggle to find time for sports and recreation in an atmosphere of the intense pressure to study and work. In order to appeal to parents, Woodward is also pursuing the education route by getting involved with Kaplan’s K-12 international online education so that its athletes can earn high school diplomas. Another big draw is that Woodward Beijing has the opportunity to bring a handful of kids to Woodward camps in the US – both video students and athletes. This appeals to parents, as many in China are now aiming to travel to the US at younger and younger ages, whereas this used to be the goal for post-graduate studies.

The future of this facility is still unclear. The government plans to build a huge airport around 20 minutes from the facility, so the land may be re-claimed for alternate uses. There could also be problems in the future due to the land value; Woodward passed on an offer to buy its land years ago, and now the price has skyrocketed. I hope that Woodward Beijing survives the fast-changing landscape in China, as it provides a fun and unique environment to pursue offbeat sports – and a fun stop on Warsaw’s China itinerary!

–          Christina Sloyer, Warsaw MBA ‘12

Mystery / Zero: Woodward Beijing

Written by UO Business

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