United Electric
Bouncing to the Top
Extreme
pogo stick
jumper
bounces
back after
accident
4
N o v e m b e r 2009
By Dianna Troyer
“Go ahead. Try to jump over me,” Breckon “Biff ”
Hutchison urges his friend and fellow extreme pogo
stick jumper Dominic Shaw as he sits on a stool
in his backyard, his right leg extended stiffly and
encased in a purple-and-orange cast.
The cast with its garish colors is as eye-catching
as a Reverse Canadian, a dizzying aerial stunt Biff
designed and executed flawlessly to earn first place
in the Big Air Professional stunt competition at
Pogopalooza.
Biff performed the sideways back flip at 6 feet
in the air to impress the judges at the national
extreme pogo stick jumping contest in late August in
Pittsburgh.
Pogopalooza attracted 50 extreme pogo athletes
from throughout the United States, Britain and
Canada, who bounced and soared high enough to
flip and twist through the air in a series of breathtaking, gymnastic stunts. Any pogoer was permitted
to enter the contest, an event designed to publicize
the new and novel extreme sport.
About a year ago, Biff and Dominic, sophomores
at Burley High School, heard about Pogopalooza
and began practicing daily so they would be ready.
“It was really exciting to be there,” Biff says. “We
went to have fun. We weren’t expecting to win
anything.”
Dominic placed third in the Best Trick Category at
Pogopalooza when he combined a series of tricks: a
180-degree wrap, peg grab with a one-footed landing.
Despite all his airborne expertise, Dominic declines
Biff’s invitation to jump over him and instead
bounces around the yard doing acrobatic maneuvers
on a pneumatic 10-pound pogo stick that hardly
resembles the ones from his parents’ childhood. The
new extreme sticks have to be pumped up with air
and can propel a jumper 9 feet into the air.
Biff, a nickname his Uncle Gary bestowed upon
him in childhood, looks understandably envious as
Dominic bounces around. It’s obvious he wants to be
airborne sooner rather than later, but a fateful practice session in September sent him to the emergency
room and sidelined him for three to six months.
“I was practicing a 360-degree back flip dismount
here at home when I landed wrong,” Biff recalls.
Wrong is an understatement. Two of his leg bones
snapped.
“I heard him yell, and so did our neighbor, who is
an emergency room doctor,” says his mom, Verda.
Starting near his ankle, Biff suffered a spiral fracture of his tibia and broke his fibula behind his knee.
“I’ve landed that trick a hundred times,” he says.
“It really hurt when I broke it.”
Biff ’s parents accept the risks associated with their
son’s acrobatic sport.
“Sometimes, I worry,” Verda says, “but he loves
it, and is a smart kid who doesn’t do tricks he isn’t
confident he can
land.”
His father,
Jeremy, admits he
still feels a little
queasy when he
watches his son
perform.
“Every time he
does a flip, my
stomach flips right
along with him,”
Jeremy says. “But
he always wears a
helmet.”
In 2006, Biff, who had ridden BMX, discovered
a new device for executing extreme aerial maneuvers: a pogo stick. After watching Biff for two years,
Dominic, who rode skateboards, switched from a
board to a pogo stick, as a new source of thrills.
Along with seeking thrills, pogoers share a camaraderie. The extreme sport, still in its infancy, is
devoid of cutthroat competition.
“At Pogopalooza, everyone was so supportive of
each other and exchanged advice about their tricks,”
says Verda, who accompanied the boys.
Organizers apparently do not take themselves too
seriously, judging from Biff ’s first-place trophy. It’s
an unvarnished piece of wood with an old metal
pogo stick spring that was once green and was casually spray-painted gold and tacked to the wood with
hand-printed lettering, “Big Air Pro Gold.”
Verda says a representative from a company that
makes the pogo sticks was watching Pogopalooza
competitors and told her that Biff would be contacted
soon and invited to jump for the company team.
Biff is already a member of Vurtego Inc.’s team.
The company supplies him with parts, pogo sticks,
and T-shirts and hats to wear.
Biff and Dominic’s achievements at Pogopalooza
are remarkable because unlike other competitors, they
are self-taught and lack formal gymnastics training.
“Some of the other competitors practice at a gym
where thick mats are available,” Verda says.
When Biff first started, he practiced flipping on
his little sisters’ spare crib mattresses in the yard and
on the family trampoline.
“It feels like you’re flying or floating, and time
slows down,” Biff says of executing tricks, such as a
stick flip, a full front flip or a scissors kick. “I practice an hour or two a day, because the tricks are
harder to do than they look. At Pogopalooza, I
was so focused I didn’t even hear the cheering. I
just block out everything.”
Dominic often practices with him, executing
his favorite stunts: a wrap-around, grab variations
and under leg spins.
Biff and Dominic do not limit their pogoing to
home. They are among a half-dozen teens who
gather and practice stunts in public, at Burley’s
pool, park and other places where there are walls
and steps to flip off.
Once his leg heals, Biff plans to perform at
several events at area schools and churches,
which he had scheduled before the accident.
Biff ’s and Dominic’s favorite performance will
be next summer, at the next Pogopalooza, which
organizers have hinted could be in Salt Lake City.
Until then, all they have to do is hit their landings
precisely and keep their limbs healthy and intact. n
Above, Biff Hutchison performs a backflip 180 peg
grab at Pogopalooza.
Top left, Dominic Shaw flys
high above the Pittsburgh
skyline, where the competition took place.
Photos courtesy of
Pogopalooza
Opposite page, Biff with his
first-place trophy from
Pogopalooza. He recently
broke his leg practicing at
home.
Photo by Dianna Troyer
November 2009
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