Anaheim Canyon’s Howard Shu rises to badminton pinnacle in style

Taking a look inside Howard Shu’s bedroom closet might confuse some as to what sport he plays.

The Anaheim Canyon junior collects sneakers. He has between 40 and 50 pairs, but his favorites are his Jordan IV Lasers, which he purchased online for $200 the day they were released.

Shu also wears high socks and, at one time, toyed with the idea of wearing an arm sleeve, like the one Kobe Bryant wears.

But he’s not a basketball player. Shu plays badminton, and rather well. At 17, he is the top-ranked player in the nation in the boys’ 19-and-under age group.

“He’s always trying to integrate his basketball culture into badminton,” said Jack, his older brother. “High socks, chewing Lebron James bubble gum… .

“It’s funny, but a lot of people are trying to imitate him and have started to wear high socks when they play.”

Shu achieved his lofty ranking last month, when he won the boys’ singles competition during the Junior International Team Trials at the Orange County Badminton Club in Orange.

Results of the trials are incorporated in USA Badminton’s selection of its junior national team that will participate in the Junior Pan-American Games and the Badminton World Federation Junior Championships later this year.

First up for Shu, however, are the Southern Section-Toyota badminton individual championships on Saturday. He will be attempting to win his third consecutive singles title during the competition that will begin at 1 p.m. at the Orange County Badminton Club.

Only one other boy has won three individual section titles, Garden Grove Pacifica’s Ferdinand Rivera (1983-85). Nobody has won four in a row.

Presently enrolled in four Advanced Placement classes and one International Baccalaureate class at Canyon, Shu has a 4.9 grade-point average, but he will be his school’s only representative at the championships because it does not field a badminton team.

Shu trains alongside members of the U.S. Olympic team at the Orange County Badminton Club, and he has been on USA Badminton’s radar for some time.

He recently renewed his passport and only two pages were blank. In the last three years, Shu has traveled to Japan three times, Brazil, Mexico, the Netherlands, Peru, Canada, Thailand and Taiwan for the sole purpose of playing badminton.

He won his first international title at age 12 in the Junior Pan-Am Games, but he doesn’t know how many tournaments he’s won since.

“I’ve played in so many,” he said, but he has won six gold medals in the Junior Pan-Am Games. He was also an alternate on the U.S. senior national team that participated in the 2006 World Men’s Team Championships in Japan.

“We think he is a talent,” said Fred Coleman, a junior chair with USA Badminton.

Shu, who is sponsored by Yonex, the world’s top manufacturer of badminton equipment, will return to the Junior Pan-Am Games in July in Guatemala, then plans to play in the World Junior Championships in the fall at a site to be announced.

The U.S. has never had a boys’ singles player advance past the second round of the World Junior Championships, Coleman said.

“Is Howard good enough to get past the second round? We don’t know for sure, but we think he has the talent,” Coleman said.

Shu has aspirations of playing in the Olympics; however, since badminton players have to be invited to participate in the Games, the qualifying process is rigorous and includes participation in numerous international tournaments.

Coleman said he believes the 2012 games are within Shu’s reach, but his best chance to medal would probably be in 2016.

“For now, the goal is to win a gold medal in Guatemala and then compete in the junior nationals,” he said.

Experience at the international level is what sets Shu apart from most high school players.

“You can see it at the end of games,” said his brother Jack, a freshman at UCLA. “He doesn’t give up.”

Jack should know as he experienced, firsthand, his brother’s resolve in the Southern Section’s singles finals last year. Jack, also competing for Canyon, twice had Howard at game-point, but lost the games, the match and the title.

“Howard knows how to play until the last shot.”

 jaime.cardenas@latimes.com