Michael Kinner - From Playgrounds to Purposeful Play

As a young boy, Michael Kinner's world revolved around basketball courts and playing fields. Sports weren’t just a pastime — they were his passion, his identity, and the early foundation for his future work. The feeling of being in the game, fully focused, with everything else fading away, left a mark that never disappeared. "I wanted to find a way to capture that feeling — that flow state you experience when you’re completely immersed in play," Michael reflects. "There’s something powerful about those moments, and I believed they shouldn’t be limited to childhood or professional athletes."

That belief became the spark for Air O Sport, a game Michael created from scratch to bring people of all ages into that same state of connection, energy, and presence. Drawing from his background in basketball and his passion for leadership, he designed a new sport to create more than just competition — it would create community. The journey was anything but easy. Launching a brand-new sport meant constant challenges: product design obstacles, funding hurdles, and the tough work of getting people to believe in a vision they’d never seen before.

Every step forward took grit. But Michael kept coming back to the reason he started. He saw how play had the power to lift people up — how it could dissolve stress, build relationships, and spark momentum in ways few other things could. He also saw it firsthand at home, watching his son push through challenges with resilience and joy. "I knew I had to give this everything I had," Michael says. "I couldn’t walk away knowing I hadn’t left it all on the court." Today, what began as a childhood love of sports has grown into a mission that brings people together across generations, workplaces, and communities.

Air O Sport is not just a game — it’s a way to experience connection, unlock flow, and rediscover the power of play in everyday life. For Michael, it’s always been about more than winning. It’s about creating moments where people feel fully alive, fully present — and reminding them that play has the power to move us all forward.