PITTSBURGH (AP) 鈥� The greatest day of Michael Mena’s 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.
Asked how becoming the best in his chosen sport 鈥� for a day anyway 鈥� was going to go over back at the office, the Florida native who currently works as an automated software tester in Canada just laughed.
鈥淭hey think it’s cool,鈥� Mena said. 鈥淏ut they don’t get the full depth of how it all works.鈥�
Hard to blame them. Because how do you explain … this?
Mena is a pogoer. Check that. He’s a
Yes, really.
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 鈥淧ogopalooza,” understand what they do is a little out there 鈥� even for an action sport.
鈥淚 feel like it鈥檚 similar to a fraternity,鈥� said Dalton Smith, considered one of the greatest of all time. 鈥淏ut if like all the frat guys were half jocks, half artists, with a little sprinkle of mystical zest on the whole thing.鈥�
That mystical zest comes during those precious fractions of a second when you鈥檙e 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.
The total amount of cash won across three days at Pogopalooza 2026? Zero.
鈥淭he dream used to be: we鈥檙e going to be the next skateboarding,鈥� Mena said.
鈥淚f we got a bunch of money, it would be cool, but it鈥檚 not the goal anymore,鈥� he added. “We鈥檙e not like, 鈥楬ow can we make more money?鈥� It鈥檚 like, 鈥橦ow can we make it more exciting? How can we push the sport further and get more people into it?’ That鈥檚 what it鈥檚 all about.鈥�
Where you might see a pogo stick, others see a calling
It’s 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 鈥� think, pogoing around a skate park, with handmade, graffiti-painted elements to leap off of 鈥� and Best Trick, which is basically taking turns during a 30-minute jam session trying to pull off the sickest stunts imaginable.
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’s kind of the point.
鈥淲e’re equal parts naive and brave,鈥� said the 29-year-old Smith, whose flowing black hair, moustache and soulful approach to his life’s work give the a zen-like vibe. 鈥淚t’s not even naive. You just want something so bad. You see it in your head, this trick that you’re chasing. Once you get into the flow of trying it, you’re not thinking about fear. Your body’s just pushing, pushing, pushing until you get it, so you kind of get over the fear hump and then whatever happens, happens.鈥�
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.
The first time Mena tried a backflip, he was 13. He inflated an air mattress for safety. IHe didn’t know how to flip off two feet, let alone a hollow air-pressurized tube.
鈥淚t went really bad,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 landed on my head or whatever.鈥�
Want to be good at pogo? Hope your pain tolerance is high
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’t notice. Henry Cabelus’ dad put carpet on top of plywood so his son could practice in the backyard instead of the street, where Cabelus’ mother feared he’d get hit by a car.
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.
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 鈥淴pogo鈥� team that performs at everything from NBA halftime shows to state fairs and cruises.
What began as a childhood fixation has become a livelihood for most, run by a Carnegie Mellon graduate who left a job as an internal consultant for IBM to run a business that has morphed into a passion project. By Will Weiner’s own admission, the corporate gig the 34-year-old once had was 鈥�1000% more lucrative” than his current job.
If you know, you know
Weiner described Pogopalooza as more of a family reunion than an actual competition. And while Xpogo is technically a for-profit business, after making a push to try and broaden Pogopalooza 鈥� including making an appearance as part of ESPN’s 鈥淭he Ocho鈥� programming 鈥� the event has settled firmly into 鈥渋f you know, you know鈥� territory.
鈥淲e might not have 20,000 people here, but we can give you authentic, and we can give you cool and we can give you content,鈥� Weiner said.
On the eve of the event, Cabelus debuted that served as a mash-up of some of the most difficult tricks he’s ever completed. Duncan Murray crisscrosses the country in a white hatchback, 鈥淭he Duncan Pogo show鈥� emblazoned on the side.
They all want pogoing to grow, but only in a way that feels organic.
Pogopalooza ends every year with a 鈥渏ump off鈥� for spectators 15-and-under in an effort to provide the spark that turned into an obsession for Mena and others long ago.
Connor Poe, 19 and considered one of pogoing’s bright young stars, stood atop the Big Air course during the finals and said to no one in particular, 鈥淚’m going to … hurt myself,鈥� before dropping in.
He was right. Ten seconds into his run, the stick gave way. Poe’s face hit the pavement.
No matter. That didn’t stop him from attempting it twice more. Poe’s third run was a clean and creative 60-second journey from one element to the next, earning the former high school football player third place behind Mena.
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