By Dan Brown

Recently I had the chance to ask Joe Verzal some questions about his history with the pogo stick. For those of you that don't know, Joe is one of the original stunt pogo stickers, inventing many of the most commonly used tricks in the sport of Xpogo. He has pogoed all over the world, and is arguably the most experienced jumpers to date.

Jumper Profile: Joe Verzal
Age: 24
Height: 5’9”
Weight: 155 Pounds
Favorite Food: Sour Candy

Brown: How did you get your start pogoing?

Verzal: I started with pogo sticks when I got one for my birthday one year. It took me all afternoon to get eight bounces. I jumped on that pogo stick until I wore the spring out. I could do a few basic tricks on it, but mostly tried to see how many jumps I could get.

Brown:When did you start pogoing?

Verzal:I started pogoing when I was eight. I jumped for a few months before wearing the stick out, and started again a few years later when my neighbors got a stick.

Brown:What kind of stick did you start on?

Verzal:I started jumping on a red Maverick; they’ve gone through a few design changes since then.

Brown:What different kinds of pogo sticks do you have now?

Verzal:I have quite a few. Obviously I keep a few of each model that we make –Flybar 1200, Flybar 800, Super Pogo, Master and Maverick, but I also keep a personal collection. My favorite is the Hop Rod, a gas powered pogo from the seventies, which is a terrible concept, but a great conversation piece. I also have a few antique wooden pogos, sticks from the 50s-70s, and my own designs (which usually don’t turn out so well).

Brown:When and why did you start doing tricks on your pogo stick?

Verzal:I started doing tricks almost right away- some sweet one handers, no handers- mostly stuff like that. I got bored with jumping up and down and I think it just seems like the first thing everyone wants to do when they learn to jump on a pogo stick is throw a no hander.

Brown:Have you ever been seriously injured while pogoing?

Verzal:I have had a couple of injuries. Two sprained ankles; one when I over-rotated a 540 barspin, and the other happened when I caught my foot on a ladder bailing from my modified Master pogo stilt. I also had a pretty nasty knee injury involving several torn ligaments and some chewed up cartilage. This leads me to offer some advice- always land with your knees slightly bent when bailing, and don’t be stupid.

Brown:Do you know of anyone that was doing tricks on their pogo before you?

Verzal:Maybe Irwin- I have a picture of him doing a backflip on a Flybar somewhere around here! I’m sure there were lots of people that have done a trick or two on a pogo stick before me. I started doing shows as ‘Pogo Joe’ about ten years ago, so maybe I was one of the first to make any money doing it. That was just before the original stunt pogo web site that Dave Armstrong created, so it was rare to hear of anyone else doing something similar at the time.

Brown:At what different events have you done pogo demos?

Verzal:Lots- probably too many to list. My first demo was at the Milwaukee County Zoo in Wisconsin. Since then I have done school assemblies, talent shows, demos at hospitals and churches and for SBI/Flybar. The demos for Flybar have been the most fun and have taken me all over the country and overseas. I have jumped in Switzerland, Germany, South Korea, and Taiwan. The majority of demos now are trade shows, but when I was doing independent shows they were mostly at festivals and special events.

Brown:What is your current job with Flybar?

Verzal:I am a sales associate and also help out with marketing, but my major interest is managing the demo team, which we are trying to expand throughout the country. We like to develop relationships with skilled jumpers and keep in contact so that we can offer the opportunity to demo for us when we have an event in the area. It has been challenging and fun so far. If anyone reads this and wants to be a part of the team, we’d be happy to hear from you- send me an e-mail at joe@flybar.com. I am also trying to add lots of pictures and video clips to the Flybar Owner’s Lounge on www.flybar.com- if anyone has Flybar photos/video clips you can e-mail those to me too, and I’d be happy to put them up there for you (just make sure you are wearing a helmet).

Brown:How did you come to your position with Flybar?

Verzal:I originally got in touch with SBI when I first started pogoing and was going through rubber tips on a daily basis. They sent me some replacement tips, and I ended up sending them a video of me doing some tricks. A couple of months later Irwin called and asked me to demo on the ‘Today Show’ while he was being interviewed. I’ve stayed in touch with SBI ever since and helped with product testing. Eventually I worked my way into a position as a demo guy for Flybar, and when I graduated from UIC I came on with Flybar full time as the Demo Team Manager and Sales Representative for the Midwest. Kind of a long road, but well worth it.

Joe throwing down an ULBS, just one of the many tricks he pioneered.

Brown:Pogoing to this day is still not widely recognized as a sport--what did people think of you doing it over 10 years ago?

Verzal:I think people took it as more of a novelty act- which is how I presented it for the most part. Pogoing has evolved a lot since then though- that was before the Gravity Games stick was even a concept. My jumping style was very technical and I used a lot of props- jump ropes, blindfolds, modified sticks, etc. With the introduction of superior designs and the community developed through the xpogo site, I think pogoing is definitely taking a turn towards becoming a sport rather than a novelty act.

Brown:In your opinion could and should Xpogo be included in extreme sports events such as the X games, or Gravity Games?

Verzal:I think that xpogo is still too undeveloped to be included in such major events, but would not rule it out down the road. X Games and Gravity Games are a couple of the top events, among many, for the sports which they host. Without ever having had an official competition of any type, it would be difficult to make a case for xpogo to be included at this point. I would think small at first. If you can organize smaller competitions, maybe even as an under card to the main event at established competitions, this would give you a chance to iron out how things should happen. Right now, xpogo is in its infancy, there are no rules, no history, nothing to go by, so I think that needs to happen first.

Brown:What do you see happening to the sport of Xpogo in the future?

Verzal:I think the concept of xpogo has really evolved in the past five years. I suppose it has been a combination of new stick designs and more jumpers pushing things to the next level. I think the ideal situation would be to see xpogo gradually continue to work its way into the public consciousness, without becoming a fad that will fizzle out in a few years. It seems to be on the right track. I think that it would be great to have an official organization to coordinate the effort to move xpogo forward. I also think that competition is a necessity for something to evolve, and that xpogo will be able to continue in the right direction by taking advantage of that.