Category Archives: Articles

A Brief (& Late) Update

Posted on by
Michael Mena, Pogopalooza 2023 – Shot by Sean O’Malley

A lot has been going on in the pogo world lately, but most of it behind the scenes, and unfortunately some of it may not be good. With that said, we will sail on as always. I just wanted to give a quick update, since there has been a lot of talk and questions being asked to us here at AllPogo, to Vurtego, and to the community channels. I owe everyone a much longer update, and that will come, but life has been busy lately, I’m sure you all know how that goes.

Yes, as noted in our last article, the future of Tech Pogoing is in OUR hands alone here at AllPogo. We are continuing prototyping, testing, and building our REAPER tech stick. More info coming later, but signs are pointing good. As Earl puts it, “This thing is the first ever pogo stick in history designed and built entirely by pogoers purely for the love of the sport.”

Yes, Vurtego is currently going through some parts shortages, and that may potentially last for a little while. -> (Read More) ->

Electric Air Compressors – All the rage!

Posted on by

A year or two ago is when I first started seeing these Electric Air Compressors pop up throughout the community. After a bit of skepticism, I gave one a chance and absolutely loved it. After pogoing for Fifteen years and riding a Vurtego for the majority of that, I grow tired of constantly pumping my Vurtego up to my jumping pressure, only for it to inevitably leak back out because I forgot to tighten something, you get the idea. The cycle is endless. So when I saw these electric pumps I knew I had to get one. After a bit of research, I found a brand I liked online and went for it.

There are a few brands out there currently. I went with the Avid Power model, but I’m sure the Ryobi pump is great, especially if you have other Ryobi tools in your household. An obvious benefit to all of them is of course, that you can pump up tires with it as well. I am a cheapskate who only buys used tires so I am a frequent user of the free Wawa Air pumps. -> (Read More) ->

AllPogo Lifetime Achievement Award

Posted on by

This year at PogoPalooza 2022, AllPogo presented the very first “Lifetime Achievement Award,” honoring two pogoers who we believe have made the biggest impact on the progression of the sport of pogo up until today. Fred Grzybowski and Daniel Mahoney received the award, as well as a free Signature Series pogo stick hand built by Earl Pote. Fred Received an original GG modified into an SS due to his longevity in the sport, and Dan received a Green accented SS, paying homage to an old school website and forum he made back in the mid 2000’s called “Green Pogo.”

Fred Grzybowski (left) and Daniel Mahoney (right) receive their Lifetime Achievement Awards and SS pogo sticks

Fred has been involved with the sport of pogo ever since the very beginning (we’re talkin’ late 90’s) and is responsible for creating a lot of the basics of big air pogo sticking. In fact, Fred was the very first pogoer to move from jumping full time on a spring stick to a big air stick when the Flybar 1200 was released in 2004. -> (Read More) ->

Interview with Marc Matson- Inventor of the Motostik 

Posted on by
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is gm6g3012.jpg
Nick McClintock ULBS at the first Motostik photo shoot- circa 2004

The Motostik is a historic pogo stick that emerged in 2004, the same year as the Flybar 1200, and was used primarily by many riders in the mid 2000’s. The Flybar 1200 was the very first “Big Air” pogo stick that was released into the market, and the Motostik was almost like a hybrid between a Tech stick and a Big Air stick. A lot of pogoers then were obviously still used to jumping on spring pogo sticks, so the Motostik was a great transition stick into Big Air. We at AllPogo happened to snag an interview with Marc Matson, the mastermind behind the Motostik – a pogo stick that helped propel not only some of the greats of pogo forward, but the sport itself.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is full.jpg

AllPogo:

What is your history with motocross as far as racing, freestyle, etc.

Marc:

I started racing motocross around 1980… and I still am. I never was really good, but I always brought two pretty girls with me, so I ended up hanging out with a couple brand-name moto guys. -> (Read More) ->

Blue Lips – Enhanced 10 Year Anniversary – Earl Pote

Posted on by

In 2010, I pretty much decided overnight to pack all of my stuff and move to Florida. I was 20 years old, had a good amount of cash in my bank, and had been thinking about moving to Florida for a while. The thought of being able to pogo year round in warm weather was incredibly exciting to me, and that was the reason why I made the move.

No Handed Ninja Kick Peg Tap

After I got all settled into an apartment in Bradenton, home of Team Hyper Pogo, I began pogoing every single day. It was like paradise. After living in Chicago my entire life, I only had a few months a year where it was good pogo weather, and i’ve always HATED the cold. Not only that, but now I had people to pogo with, which also drove up my desire to constantly jump and influenced me to step up my game.

The very first Casper documented on video

I began filming Blue Lips in Fall 2011. Filming started out like pretty much all of my solo videos, I didn’t really have a solid plan for what the video would look like, I was just stacking clips here and there. -> (Read More) ->

Background Check: Dan Mahoney

Posted on by

We recently had a chat with the legendary Daniel Mahoney, pro pogoer and tea expert. Check out the article below to learn more about Dan’s history in the sport, his life as a tea connoisseur, and more.

Dan Mahoney vaulting over a rail.

AllPogo: Hey Dan, thanks for doing this interview. What year did you start pogoing, and how old were you?

Dan: I often say I started in 2006 when I was 12, but that’s not exactly true. When I was 8 or 9, my sister got a pogo stick for her birthday. They were sold out of the “moon shoes” she had asked for, and I guess a pogo made sense as “the next best thing.” The Tony Hawk video games were big at the time, so obviously we wanted to up the game once just jumping up and down got too easy. I followed my older brother’s example as he tried all kinds of weird stuff. Really, I just wanted to be included and so I jumped a lot with my brother for a couple weeks until he got bored. -> (Read More) ->

Rest In Peace, Haley Greer.

Posted on by

I don’t even know how to begin writing this post. I’ve had a little while to personally process this tragedy, and it still chokes me up writing about it now. The pogo community has lost one of our most valuable jumpers. Haley Greer – the sport’s only real, dedicated female athlete – has taken her final bounce. Anyone who knew Haley personally knew her to be fearless, incredibly resilient, and extremely passionate. I would say a lot of us even thought of her as superhuman – considering some of the slams we saw her take, only to stand back up, eventually returning to the pogo stick. Haley had an endless love for pogoing, and her impact and history will be long celebrated. The first, and only woman to backflip on a pogo stick to date, among many other accomplishments. Haley Greer, in my opinion, was the ultimate pogoer. She lived for the sport, and we will forever miss her.

Rest In Peace, Haley T. Greer

♥

Earl Pote: 18 Years

Posted on by

The year was 2002, I was only 12 years old. My newly acquainted best friend, Bryan Pognant, and I went to an Irish Fest together with his family. We saw a pogo stick abandoned by a ferris wheel, devised a plan to make it ours and made it happen. I still remember that day clearly, even though it was 18 years ago. Bryan and I were passing it back and forth in the parking lot seeing who could get the most jumps or who could jump with one hand or one foot.

Later that day when we got home, we logged onto the internet via AOL Dial-Up internet and searched Ask Jeeves (lol) for like-minded individuals that may think of a pogo stick as more than just a toy. We stumbled across xpogo.com. At the time the website was in its early infancy stage with only a handful of regular users. We signed up for the forums and were greeted by legends like Dave Armstrong, Nick McClintock and Fred Grzybowski. Back then we were always excited when someone new joined the forums, because it happened so rarely. -> (Read More) ->

Background Check: Russ Kaus

Posted on by

Russ Kaus is a powerhouse of a pogoer that emerged in the scene in the late 2000’s, and has been pushing the sport ever since. Russ is well known for his “Go Big” attitude and riding style, and has recently landed one of the biggest tricks in the history of pogo at Pogopalooza 2020: the Double Stickflip. Check out our interview with Russ below, and make sure to watch Russ’s edit he put together of the history of the Stickflip, located at the bottom of the article!

AllPogo: What year did you start pogoing, and how old were you?

Russ: I started bouncing when I was 13 or 14 around 2007, but I just learned how to bounce. I tried 180 barspin and twisted my ankle so I assumed it was impossible. I knew nothing of Xpogo or any other riders.

AllPogo: How did you discover the sport?

Russ: I saw a news thing on CNN of Brian Spencer cruising around LA on a Vurtego. I thought it was the coolest thing ever and since I just learned how to bounce it was perfect timing. -> (Read More) ->

Ryan O’Malley Interview

Posted on by


Today we share part two of our interview seriews with our AllPogo staff. Check out the interview with AllPogo creator Ryan O’Malley below!


Earl: What year did you start pogoing, and how old were you?

Ryan: I started in the summer before my freshman year of High School, so that would be 2006 I believe, making me right around 15 years old. If my math is correct.

Earl: How did you discover the sport?

Ryan: My pogoing history is an interesting one. My first memories were hanging out with Nick Ryan at his parent’s house, which was right across the road from my grandparent’s house, where I spent a lot of my childhood. Nick had a Pogo-Roo, the pogo stick with the built-in counter. We used it often, and even thought, like many, that we created a new sport. We “invented” a dozen or so tricks, but the only one I remember was the drummer boy, which was no handed bouncing while drumming on the frame. Very creative! I even remember my first real bail. I tried to jump the entire length of one square of Nick’s driveway. -> (Read More) ->