Working in the union gives me the freedom of lifestyle. If I was working a regular job, I wouldn’t be able to train the way I did for this competition.
From the age of 12, when he found his first pogo stick at a carnival, L-1’s Earl Pote has been fascinated with learning how to pogo.
Earl Pote, a Local 1 Boilermaker from Chicago, discovered a fascination for pogo sticks at age 12, after seeing one at a local carnival. Decades later, his passion and dedication have secured him the 2024 Tech Pogo Stick World Championship, earned at the Pogo World Championships in Pittsburgh last summer. He previously won gold in Tech in 2009 and 2010 and claimed silver in 2011, despite competing with a broken foot.
Pote said that from 2009 to 2011, he also competed in the Big Air competition, as well as in the Tech. He had to stop because he joined the military in 2012, and said he couldn’t risk getting severely injured while in the military.
Pote’s most recent victory came in the Tech category, which requires participants to use steel spring pogo sticks. The tech style keeps pogoers closer to the ground and focuses on technical skills, unlike other categories, like Big Air, which allow for pneumatic pogo sticks that are lighter and can bounce higher.
“Pogoing requires a lot of balance,” Pote explained. “The tech side, especially, requires a lot of balance. There are a lot of tricks that demand precise control. It comes with time and hours of practice.”
Watch Earl Pote practice pogoing!
Although his love for pogoing came first, joining the union gave him the freedom to practice the hundreds of hours needed to become a champion.
Pote's journey into the Boilermakers began in February 2019, after serving six years in the United States Air Force. He discovered the union through Helmets to Hardhats, a program that helps military veterans transition into civilian trades. His military experience involved working on aircrew egress systems. Joining the union opened new doors for him and gave him a trade he could use to support himself and his pogo ambitions.
Before indenturing into the Boilermaker’s apprenticeship program, Pote had no welding experience. “I hadn’t even struck an arc,” he said. “I put a lot of time into learning how to weld. I’d be at the hall for eight hours a day practicing when I was laid off. I also learned layout, something I didn’t know how to do before becoming a Boilermaker.”
His new boilermaker skills made it possible for Pote to begin crafting his own brand of pogo stick called The Reaper. He began fabricating them out of his garage after the company that originally produced tech pogo sticks stopped making them. He decided if he couldn’t buy the pogo stick he needed, he’d design one himself.
“I’m a Boilermaker at the end of the day, and I can make a pogo stick,” Pote said.
The biggest challenge he faced in creating The Reaper was sourcing the right spring. After struggling to find a manufacturer, he finally located one in Chicago. They produced a prototype, which he tested and approved with the help of a friend.
Pote used his own creation, The Reaper, to win the 2024 championship, a victory driven by skill, hours of practice, and the benefits of the union way of life.
“Working in the union gives me the freedom of lifestyle,” Pote said. “If I was working a regular job, I wouldn’t be able to train the way I did for this competition.”
