diff --git a/coreAPI/src/java/net/java/games/input/AbstractComponent.java b/coreAPI/src/java/net/java/games/input/AbstractComponent.java
index 40a1750..c521276 100644
--- a/coreAPI/src/java/net/java/games/input/AbstractComponent.java
+++ b/coreAPI/src/java/net/java/games/input/AbstractComponent.java
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractComponent implements Component {
     
     private final Identifier id;
 
+	private boolean has_polled;
 	private float value;
 	private float event_value;
     
@@ -98,9 +99,21 @@ public abstract class AbstractComponent implements Component {
      * @return 0.0f by default, can be overridden
      */
     public final float getPollData() {
+		if (!has_polled && !isRelative()) {
+			has_polled = true;
+			try {
+				setPollData(poll());
+			} catch (IOException e) {
+				ControllerEnvironment.log("Failed to poll component: " + e);
+			}
+		}
         return value;
     }
 
+	final void resetHasPolled() {
+		has_polled = false;
+	}
+
     final void setPollData(float value) {
         this.value = value;
     }
diff --git a/coreAPI/src/java/net/java/games/input/AbstractController.java b/coreAPI/src/java/net/java/games/input/AbstractController.java
index 266a303..02233df 100644
--- a/coreAPI/src/java/net/java/games/input/AbstractController.java
+++ b/coreAPI/src/java/net/java/games/input/AbstractController.java
@@ -212,8 +212,8 @@ public abstract class AbstractController implements Controller {
 				if (component.isRelative()) {
 					component.setPollData(0);
 				} else {
-					float value = component.poll();
-					component.setPollData(value);
+					// Let the component poll itself lazily
+					component.resetHasPolled();
 				}
 			}
 			while (getNextDeviceEvent(event)) {