PHILADELPHIA – Nic Patiño did not begin pogging as a result of he was cool.
“It was unusual,” he stated. “All people was confused.”
However when Patiño’s father was killed in a motorbike accident a month earlier than his 13th birthday, he pulled an previous bounce stick from his household’s storage and received into it.
He could not management life, however the rebound, he may management that.
“Whenever you do that, you need to be completely current, so it allowed me to finish my ache, that ache and people feelings,” stated Patiño, 23. “The bounce stick saved me.”
After which the bounce stick confirmed him the world.
At age 16, Patiño joined pogo’s premier stunt staff, Xpogo, and has been touring the world ever since, performing death-defying tips at NBA reveals in China and in velvet-walled theaters to Nameless billionaires within the Seychelles.
“I got here throughout this formulation via pogoing that has allowed me to create a rattling best life,” he stated. “I am so enthusiastic about the way it’s gone to this point, and I used to be nearly prepared to show round and stroll in a unique route after I realized that it does not need to be this manner.”
Patiño grew up in New Hope the place her father, who immigrated from Mexico, owned a preferred artwork gallery (Milagros) and later a Mexican restaurant (The Blue Tortilla). It was his father who taught Patiño to skateboard (which continues to be his past love) earlier than shopping for him a traditional pogo stick.
The 12 months his world was turned the wrong way up by the loss of life of his father, Patiño requested for a pneumatic bouncer for Christmas. Powered by compressed air, pneumatic jumpers can bounce as much as 10 ft. As extra air is added, the rebound will increase, however the stick additionally turns into tougher to manage.
“It is like driving a wild horse,” stated Patiño.
Patiño taught himself the right way to pogo by watching movies on-line, becoming a member of pogo boards, and working towards every single day after faculty till darkish.
“The recommendation I at all times give to children is that I may clarify the right way to do it, however you may nonetheless need to attempt 1,00zero occasions, so I like to recommend that you just begin attempting 1,00zero occasions,” stated Patiño.
When he was 15 years previous, Patiño attended Pogopalooza, a touring championship organized by Xpogo. Though he didn’t qualify for the ultimate spherical, Xpogo organizers requested him if he needed to take part with the staff within the Rose Bowl Parade that 12 months.
From there, Patiño joined the Xpogo staff and was paid for concert events all over the world, from South by Southwest in Texas to performing throughout intermissions at NBA exhibition video games in China.
Patiño’s insane skills have additionally led him to appearances on Good Morning America, the Right now present, and ESPN2. He even taught actor Neil Patrick Harris the right way to do a backflip on a bounce stick for Harris’s 2015 selection present Greatest Time Ever.
By the point he was 16, Patiño was making greater than $ 16,00zero a 12 months as a hobbyist whereas attending (sporadically) New Hope-Solebury Excessive Faculty.
When Patiño enrolled in Temple College 4 years in the past, he slowed down his appearances with Xpogo, however he nonetheless competes at Pogopalooza yearly. This 12 months, he was third in freestyle and excessive bounce.
And there was a time when he received a name from his Xpogo boss whereas sitting in a math class in his freshman 12 months at Temple, asking if he may journey the following day to the Seychelles, within the Indian Ocean, to carry out for a gaggle of extraordinarily rich individuals. individuals (whose id stays a thriller to him).
“It was in essentially the most ornate velvet-walled theater … There have been dancers from South Africa, performers from Russian bars, fire-eating jugglers,” stated Patiño. “We realized that we had been about to be a part of the most important unique artist present.”
Patiño’s favourite place to pogo, nevertheless, has at all times been on the road, the place he can “provide you with inventive methods to move via” the atmosphere round him, as he did on a latest chilly day at Thomas Paine Plaza exterior the Municipal Providers Constructing. in Philadelphia. Patiño bounced between the outsized items of the Sorry recreation and threw enormous dominoes with such energy that it shook the concrete blocks within the plaza and lots of passersby, who laughed and stopped to movie it.
However Patiño cannot bounce like this without end, not even for for much longer. Of the 25 skilled pogoers on the earth, none are older than 30 as a result of the game is so bodily demanding, he stated.
This spring, Patiño graduated from Temple with a level in administration info methods, however rapidly realized profession in his specialty wouldn’t deliver him pleasure.
So he got down to decide what he would do, and after taking self-discovery lessons, this 12 months he turned a way of life design coach. Patino works with purchasers via Zoom to assist “align one’s life-style along with your objective and innate ardour so that you just create a life that’s joyful and deeply fulfilling.”
It was dropping his father and discovering the stick to leap that Patiño discovered himself, and stated that he desires to assist others to get well and discover themselves too.
“I’ve come to like the truth that my dad lives via me,” stated Patiño. “I acknowledge it after I reside my life.”
