Jacob Hinga (left) pictured next to Pink during a performance.
By Bruce Rolfe
A Climax-Scotts High School graduate has expanded his goals to a bigger stage, performing on a tour with an international pop star but has also taken up a new sport that left him making a video with a well known athlete.
Jacob Hinga, a 2012 graduate of Climax-Scotts High School, just completed the first leg of an international tour with pop singer Pink, performing on the trampwall and other on stage performances.
The son of Don Hinga and Kristy Davis, Jacob just finished the Australian and New Zeeland leg of Pink’s Summer Carnival tour.
Hinga said he never would have dreamed when he was younger he would be appearing on stage with a world famous performer like Pink, formerly named Alecia Moore.
He said it just happened to work out that the star performer wanted to use trampwall performances on her current tour, and the C-S graduate has performed on the trampwall for a number of years.
“Her (Pink) single ‘Trustfall,’ that’s kind of like the whole album, ‘Trustfall.’ She specifically saw a trampwall and wanted it to be part of her image for ‘Trustfall.’ She went through an audition process. There were like 100 people there and I was one of four selected to go on tour,” explained Hinga.
Hinga said when “Trustfall” is performed at a concert, there is a giant LED screen behind the performers and a trampwall is lifted up onto the stage he performs on.
Before his performance on the trampwall for “Trustfall,” he has some minor dance performances and also does some tumbling acts on a runway during the tour.
Now he’s living out his dream on a big stage and getting paid for it.
“It’s been great. It’s been really fun,” said Hinga.
Hinga has found Pink to be witty, genuine and authentic, enjoys telling stories about her children and doesn’t have much of a filter.
By Bruce Rolfe
A Climax-Scotts High School graduate has expanded his goals to a bigger stage, performing on a tour with an international pop star but has also taken up a new sport that left him making a video with a well known athlete.
Jacob Hinga, a 2012 graduate of Climax-Scotts High School, just completed the first leg of an international tour with pop singer Pink, performing on the trampwall and other on stage performances.
The son of Don Hinga and Kristy Davis, Jacob just finished the Australian and New Zeeland leg of Pink’s Summer Carnival tour.
Hinga said he never would have dreamed when he was younger he would be appearing on stage with a world famous performer like Pink, formerly named Alecia Moore.
He said it just happened to work out that the star performer wanted to use trampwall performances on her current tour, and the C-S graduate has performed on the trampwall for a number of years.
“Her (Pink) single ‘Trustfall,’ that’s kind of like the whole album, ‘Trustfall.’ She specifically saw a trampwall and wanted it to be part of her image for ‘Trustfall.’ She went through an audition process. There were like 100 people there and I was one of four selected to go on tour,” explained Hinga.
Hinga said when “Trustfall” is performed at a concert, there is a giant LED screen behind the performers and a trampwall is lifted up onto the stage he performs on.
Before his performance on the trampwall for “Trustfall,” he has some minor dance performances and also does some tumbling acts on a runway during the tour.
Now he’s living out his dream on a big stage and getting paid for it.
“It’s been great. It’s been really fun,” said Hinga.
Hinga has found Pink to be witty, genuine and authentic, enjoys telling stories about her children and doesn’t have much of a filter.
This photo was taken after the Pink Detroit show at Comerica Park when Jacob met a group of friends, most who are old classmates at C-S. From left is Josh Kellogg, Shyla Renee, Jacob Hinga, Anthony Dowling, Aiden Macomber, Brandon Battjes, and Michelle Battjes who came to watch Hinga perform.
(Photo provided by Jacob Hinga)
(Photo provided by Jacob Hinga)
“I think the main thing is, people are always very curious if she is like what they think she is. And I would say that she is very like who she is. I think she’s hilarious. We’ll have, what we call prayer essentially. It’s not like a religious thing necessarily. It’s just like before a show we’ll all kind of gather everyone who’s on stage and we’ll just kind of like let her kind of talk about anything that she wants to get, you know, off her chest. Or just share like maybe her kids did something really sweet. And then usually, we kind of put out that we want a safe show and that, you know, the audience is receptive. Just things like that. It’s just a cool way to kind of ground ourselves before we go out every night,” offered Hinga.
The tour in New Zealand and Australia started in February and continued into March when there were approximately 20 shows performed before over 3 million people.
According to Billboard, the 20 stadium shows represented the most ever performed by any artist in Australia and New Zeeland on a single tour and Billboard also notes her total ticket sales in the territory will reach more than 3.1 million across six tours, the largest career ticket sales ever accumulated.
The tour is currently on break, however because the New Zealand and Australia tour did so well, Pink announced more dates on the tour in Europe and North America.
“We have about two months off and then in June we’ll go back to Europe and be there for two months and then we’ll go to North America until the end of November,” explained Hinga.
Jacob Hinga (right) is pictured with Ben Ferri, a foreign exchange student from Germany that Jake played basketball with while Ben was at C-S.
(Photo provided by Jacob Hinga)
(Photo provided by Jacob Hinga)
The C-S graduate said being on tour has also allowed him to see people all over the world. One day he had an opportunity to meet up with Ben Ferri, a foreign exchange student from Germany he played basketball with at C-S.
Because he is on a retainer with Pink in case he is needed for rehearsals or a show, the current down time allows him to work on his creative videos for his YouTube channel. During his free time Hinga has also traveled to South America to meet trampwall athletes from several countries.
But he’s also discovered something else he enjoys and has incorporated into his creative video content.
Known for his impressive trampwall work, Hinga recently became intrigued with high diving.
A video enthusiast who enjoys making YouTube videos of his trampwall work, Hinga said he and some friends, who also work a lot with YouTube content, made a video in Florida with Ellie Smart, the number one female cliff high diver in the United States. The tour Hinga was performing with Pink was finishing in Florida during the United States leg so the C-S graduate reached out to Smart to see if she would do a video with the two high diving and she accepted.
“I thought it would make for an interesting video and challenge. It’s kind of up my alley already,” said Hinga.
“I just really fell in love with it. I could see myself potentially, not getting on the same level so fast that I compete with them, but being able to do a small bit of the same stuff that they were doing and kind of bring people into that world, because it’s related. I just felt I had a unique voice and story that I could tell with it,” explained Hinga.
Because he is on a retainer with Pink in case he is needed for rehearsals or a show, the current down time allows him to work on his creative videos for his YouTube channel. During his free time Hinga has also traveled to South America to meet trampwall athletes from several countries.
But he’s also discovered something else he enjoys and has incorporated into his creative video content.
Known for his impressive trampwall work, Hinga recently became intrigued with high diving.
A video enthusiast who enjoys making YouTube videos of his trampwall work, Hinga said he and some friends, who also work a lot with YouTube content, made a video in Florida with Ellie Smart, the number one female cliff high diver in the United States. The tour Hinga was performing with Pink was finishing in Florida during the United States leg so the C-S graduate reached out to Smart to see if she would do a video with the two high diving and she accepted.
“I thought it would make for an interesting video and challenge. It’s kind of up my alley already,” said Hinga.
“I just really fell in love with it. I could see myself potentially, not getting on the same level so fast that I compete with them, but being able to do a small bit of the same stuff that they were doing and kind of bring people into that world, because it’s related. I just felt I had a unique voice and story that I could tell with it,” explained Hinga.
Jacob Hinga is pictured on the Red Bull High Dive platform.
(Photo by Don Hinga)
Hinga said the high diving competition got pushed back in New Zealand right before he had to be back in Australia to resume the Pink tour. He flew to the Red Bull high dive championships in New Zealand hoping to dive off the official high dive tower and share that experience through a YouTube video.
He said Red Bull got involved with the sport, where some athletes are sponsored. He said most of dives are off a built platform for safety but also display the name of the sponsor. But some times dives are performed off cliffs all around the world.
The men compete at 27 meters which is close to 90 feet and the women compete at 20 meters which is around 67 feet.
“It’s pretty high. Even for me, it’s pretty scary,” said Hinga, who has done high dives off cliffs and towers.
Hinga said his first high dive experience was both scary and emotional.
He said he’s currently making a video he’s waiting for Red Bull to approve that is expected to be posted very shortly that shows his reaction after his very first high dive.
“Basically, I completely broke down and kind of cried afterwards because it was a very emotional experience,” said Hinga.
He admits after his first high dive, he started to get more comfortable.
A goal setter, Hinga hasn’t had a lot of time to think about future goals. He’s simply enjoying a special time in his life.
“I’ve just been really trying to, actually for once, be present to the current thing. And I do recognize that this is like one of those things that not a lot of people in the world will ever get to experience. I’m really trying to take it in,” said the C-S graduate.
But he does admit he has some lofty future aspirations.
“When I’m back on my own free stuff, I’d like to start being a part of larger projects. I think in the next two to five years I would really like to be a part of some sort of video, or series, or even hosting an event that’s like around the $100,000 ball park range. Either that’s a competition for trampwall and leading that, or being part of a video, or a movie,” said Hinga.
Hinga would also like to resume incorporating video content into high diving again, but realizes those ambitions will have to wait until 2025 after the Pink tour is completed.
“It’s been a really cool experience. Definitely a lot of, just memories that are one of a kind, that’s for sure,” said Hinga.
You can view some of Hinga’s work at his YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/@Hingaflips?si=tbzgeS87uQX4hCLf
You can also find Hinga on any social media platform @hingaflips.
(Photo by Don Hinga)
Hinga said the high diving competition got pushed back in New Zealand right before he had to be back in Australia to resume the Pink tour. He flew to the Red Bull high dive championships in New Zealand hoping to dive off the official high dive tower and share that experience through a YouTube video.
He said Red Bull got involved with the sport, where some athletes are sponsored. He said most of dives are off a built platform for safety but also display the name of the sponsor. But some times dives are performed off cliffs all around the world.
The men compete at 27 meters which is close to 90 feet and the women compete at 20 meters which is around 67 feet.
“It’s pretty high. Even for me, it’s pretty scary,” said Hinga, who has done high dives off cliffs and towers.
Hinga said his first high dive experience was both scary and emotional.
He said he’s currently making a video he’s waiting for Red Bull to approve that is expected to be posted very shortly that shows his reaction after his very first high dive.
“Basically, I completely broke down and kind of cried afterwards because it was a very emotional experience,” said Hinga.
He admits after his first high dive, he started to get more comfortable.
A goal setter, Hinga hasn’t had a lot of time to think about future goals. He’s simply enjoying a special time in his life.
“I’ve just been really trying to, actually for once, be present to the current thing. And I do recognize that this is like one of those things that not a lot of people in the world will ever get to experience. I’m really trying to take it in,” said the C-S graduate.
But he does admit he has some lofty future aspirations.
“When I’m back on my own free stuff, I’d like to start being a part of larger projects. I think in the next two to five years I would really like to be a part of some sort of video, or series, or even hosting an event that’s like around the $100,000 ball park range. Either that’s a competition for trampwall and leading that, or being part of a video, or a movie,” said Hinga.
Hinga would also like to resume incorporating video content into high diving again, but realizes those ambitions will have to wait until 2025 after the Pink tour is completed.
“It’s been a really cool experience. Definitely a lot of, just memories that are one of a kind, that’s for sure,” said Hinga.
You can view some of Hinga’s work at his YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/@Hingaflips?si=tbzgeS87uQX4hCLf
You can also find Hinga on any social media platform @hingaflips.
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