A professional extreme pogo athlete is representing Orillia on Canada’s Got Talent.
Harry White, 28, started watching pogo athletes on YouTube while in Grade 10 at Patrick Fogarty Catholic Secondary School. A few years after high school, he purchased his first pogo stick. The sport derives from bicycle motocross, skateboarding, and scootering.
“I just thought it was really cool,” he said. “I bought my first stick using money from my first job at McDonald’s, and at first I really sucked at it.”
White continued practising tricks and flips and, after two years, he started to land them perfectly. After attending a pro pogo show at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto, he asked some of the athletes to take him under their wing.
“I asked them if I could come to hang out for a weekend and sleep on their hotel floor,” he recalled. “They taught me the tricks, flips, and gave me the confidence to do it.”
Growing up, White was into skateboarding, cheerleading and doing tricks on the trampoline, but he was never into the more common sports.
“I’ve always been into circus-type things,” he said. “I like that I can progress on my own accord.”
He has now performed for audiences in eight countries, 43 American states and four Canadian provinces.
“It’s taken me all over the place. Before I started pogo sticking, I left Ontario maybe once to go to Buffalo, but now I live on airplanes,” he said.
White has been featured on international television shows, and performed at NASCAR races, NBA and NCAA halftime shows, Monster Jam, and many fairs and carnivals.
When he is performing tricks such as the superman, under-the-leg passes, bar spins, backflips, and front flips, he knows he is always at risk of suffering a major injury.
“I’ve broken bones and knocked teeth out,” he said. “Everyone who is a pro has broken bones and suffered concussions, but it’s something that just comes with action sports.”
The risk is worth the reward, at least for now, he says. He is hoping to build a long-term career out of the sport, but if it doesn’t work out, he will fall back on his degree in recreation and leisure.
“I made sure I had that degree before I started touring around,” he said. “As of right now, I want to keep performing for as long as I can.”
Last year, White and his Xpogo Stunt Team were asked to apply to be on Canada’s Got Talent, but the show’s producers decided against accepting the application.
“This year, they asked again,” he said. “I sent in a bunch of stuff, and they actually put us on the show.”
While he must remain tight-lipped until the show is aired, he says it went “really well” and the opportunity to be on the show meant a lot to him.
“It was nice to finally do something this big in my own country,” he said. “Usually, when I do stuff, people who live where I’m from don’t see it.”
White hopes his performance makes Orillia proud and helps to grow the sport.
“I want to do more for the community,” he said. “It’s just a pogo stick, but it brings a lot of joy to people.”
His performance on Canada’s Got Talent will air April 4 at 8 p.m. on Citytv.
