DE PERE ‚ Wisc. — It's taken 11-year-old Dane Steward plenty of determination and perseverance, but he hopes to soon hold a national record for consecutive jumps on a pogo stick.
“At first I could do like two, and then I wanted to try even more," Dane said. "And then, what made me want to do it is I wanted to know the feel of being a record holder and the feeling after.”
Last month, he jumped for nearly three hours. To be exact, he jumped for two hours and 42 minutes with a total of 20,100 jumps.
Dane said when tried pogo stick jumping for the first time it was hard. But now, his skill is something he is really proud of.
“For me, it’s hard because my arms aren’t very long so to get over the fear, like that flip, is super hard. But once you have it down, it’s pretty easy and fun," Dane said. "I did have a lot of determination, I knew I could do it so that pretty much kept me through it the whole time.”
He said when he jumps he feels as if he’s walking on the moon.
With aspirations for a career in astronomy, he says he only hopes his determination will carry him farther in his future endeavors.
“When he came up and asked if he could give it a try we looked into it and saw the other records that were held and he’s like, ‘I think I can beat it,' and in my mind I knew he could too," said Dane's mother, Stefanie.
Last month Dane set out to do the challenge, his mom recorded it all. They have submitted the video to RecordSetter.com who they are waiting to hear back from.
Corey Henderson, the CEO of Recorder Setter, said he created the site back in 2008 to inspire those like Dane to take their hobbies and interest to the next level.
“We had seen there was no place you could go and break you own world records and the idea of what world records were at the time were, like, the guy with the long finger nails and these kind of things," Henderson said. "We wanted world records that everybody could participate in and you can adventure in it.”
This story was originally published by Valerie Juarez on Scripps station WGBA in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
