{"id":17245,"date":"2026-06-23T17:02:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T17:02:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=17245"},"modified":"2026-06-23T17:02:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T17:02:30","slug":"the-world-of-extreme-pogo-is-an-eye-popping-blend-of-artistry-courage-and-mystical-zest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=17245","title":{"rendered":"The world of extreme pogo is an eye-popping blend of artistry, courage and \u2018mystical zest\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

By WILL GRAVES<\/strong><\/p>\n

PITTSBURGH (AP) \u2014 The greatest day of Michael Mena\u2019s life as a professional athlete ended with a pair of world championships that the 33-year-old had spent the better part of two decades chasing.<\/p>

Read more How Brexit broke British politics<\/a><\/p>\n

Asked how becoming the best in his chosen sport \u2014 for a day anyway \u2014 was going to go over back at the office, the Florida native who currently works as an automated software tester in Canada just laughed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey think it\u2019s cool,\u201d Mena said. \u201cBut they don\u2019t get the full depth of how it all works.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hard to blame them. Because how do you explain \u2026 this?<\/p>\n

Mena is a pogoer. Check that. He\u2019s a \u201cprofessional pogo sticker.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, really.<\/p>\n

Mena and the rest of the tight-knit group that gathers every year in a parking lot a few miles east of downtown Pittsburgh, attempting to one-up each other during the annual \u201cPogopalooza,\u201d understand what they do is a little out there \u2014 even for an action sport.<\/p>

\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI feel like it\u2019s similar to a fraternity,\u201d said Dalton Smith, considered one of the greatest of all time. \u201cBut if like all the frat guys were half jocks, half artists, with a little sprinkle of mystical zest on the whole thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

That mystical zest comes during those precious fractions of a second when you\u2019re 10 feet in the air with a piece of steel between your legs, trying to balance the yin and yang between gravity and imagination. They do this for glory, not for money.<\/p>\n

The total amount of cash won across three days at Pogopalooza 2026? Zero.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dream used to be: we\u2019re going to be the next skateboarding,\u201d Mena said.<\/p>

\n<\/div>\n

\u201cIf we got a bunch of money, it would be cool, but it\u2019s not the goal anymore,\u201d he added. \u201cWe\u2019re not like, \u2018How can we make more money?\u2019 It\u2019s like, \u2019How can we make it more exciting? How can we push the sport further and get more people into it?\u2019 That\u2019s what it\u2019s all about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where you might see a pogo stick, others see a calling<\/h4>\n

It\u2019s that common vision that draws Mena and Smith and a dozen or so of their friends together every year to hang out and compete in things like Big Air \u2014 think, pogoing around a skate park, with handmade, graffiti-painted elements to leap off of \u2014 and Best Trick, which is basically taking turns during a 30-minute jam session trying to pull off the sickest stunts imaginable.<\/p>\n

Front flips. Back flips. Letting it go, doing a full twist, then snatching it back and setting your feet on it just before you land. The list of possibilities is endless, and that\u2019s kind of the point.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re equal parts naive and brave,\u201d said the 29-year-old Smith, whose flowing black hair, moustache and soulful approach to his life\u2019s work give the \u201cMan With Pogo\u201d a zen-like vibe. \u201cIt\u2019s not even naive. You just want something so bad. You see it in your head, this trick that you\u2019re chasing. Once you get into the flow of trying it, you\u2019re not thinking about fear. Your body\u2019s just pushing, pushing, pushing until you get it, so you kind of get over the fear hump and then whatever happens, happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Big Air and Best Trick trophies that Mena won on a cloudy June afternoon in front of a few hundred curious people were the result of hundreds of moments of failure.<\/p>\n

The first time Mena tried a backflip, he was 13. He inflated an air mattress for safety. IHe didn\u2019t know how to flip off two feet, let alone a hollow air-pressurized tube.<\/p>

Read more Trump administration announces $17.5 billion in loans for 10 new large nuclear reactors<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt went really bad,\u201d he said. \u201cI landed on my head or whatever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want to be good at pogo? Hope your pain tolerance is high<\/h4>\n

Smith remembers pulling all the cushions off the couches of his childhood home in Franklin, Tennessee, while his parents were at work and using them as crash pads, then putting them back when he was done, hoping they wouldn\u2019t notice. Henry Cabelus\u2019 dad put carpet on top of plywood so his son could practice in the backyard instead of the street, where Cabelus\u2019 mother feared he\u2019d get hit by a car.<\/p>\n

At 26, Cabelus has arthritis in his right knee and his left foot. A couple of years ago, one bad landing ended with both feet broken. There was the time he had to spend a night in the ICU because air was leaking into his cranium due to a fractured orbital bone and doctors feared he might have a stroke.<\/p>\n

Yet there is no other way Cabelus, who lives in Long Beach, California, wants to make a living, for now anyway. Most of the athletes at Pogopalooza are part of the \u201cXpogo\u201d team that performs at everything from NBA halftime shows to state fairs and cruises.<\/p>\n