Shawn Hale

Pro Skateboarder & Creator of AVOS

Shawn Hale is a professional skateboarder from Joplin, Missouri, who grew up in a creative family. He started skating around age 12 and quickly went from local contests to touring with pros. After stepping away from a few sponsors in his late teens, he took a job designing skateparks before moving to California at the end of 2009. By the summer of 2010, he was touring across Europe with Tony Hawk and the Birdhouse team.

Years of skating left Shawn with recurring foot and ankle injuries, pushing him to explore recovery practices more deeply. While filming for Birdhouse Saturdays, a severe ankle injury led him to a familiar piece of advice: roll the bottom of the foot daily on a tennis ball. It’s one of the most widely recommended routines for athletes and anyone dealing with foot, knee, hip, or back pain. The problem is consistency — most people give up long before they feel the benefits. Shawn’s solution was to build the therapy into something people could use effortlessly every day. In 2016, he began prototyping what became AVOS: a patented acupressure slide sandal that makes the “tennis ball stretch” part of daily life, just as he and so many are recommended.

Since then, AVOS has reached people well beyond skateboarding. Athletes across sports, workers on their feet all day, and people of all ages have embraced it as a tool to move with less pain and recover faster. The response has been overwhelming, with stories ranging from casual relief to life-changing results.

Officially carrying the mission statement “Proactive therapy for the next generation,” AVOS also reflects Shawn’s personal belief that recovery should build resilience — not just mask pain. His goal is to help more people experience the body’s natural healing abilities, which too often gets overlooked in the Western world.

“DIY — read the story of how my family inspired me to develop AVOS” »