Shen Meng

Shen lives in China’s Capital City Beijing where he was an art/designer for the Kempinski Hotel until 2013 when he quit to devote his time to freestyle skating. A year later he sent Monty Little an e-mail telling him that he wanted to come to the World Freestyle Round-Up but he had been denied a Canadian Visa and needed our help. What transpired in the following months is just short of a miracle. Both of us had written letters to the Consulate General of Canada in Beijing, but with no success. Then Shen decided to go right to the top and write to Stephen Harper the Prime Minister of Canada. Shen said, “I didn’t know if that was a good or bad or stupid idea, but I sent it anyway and Monty Little sent one too and on April 18th, 2014 at 5:00 p.m. I heard back from the local Visa Office that my Canadian Visa had been approved. Not only did my dream come true of being able to compete at the 2014 World Round-Up but I also got to meet the worlds best freestyle skaters.”

When he was 13 he saw a movie about skateboarding and knew he just had to have one of those things, he begged his parents for a whole year until they finally bought him one. Being one of the only skateboarders in China was very frustrating as there was no one to learn from, so after about 5 years of skating alone he dropped skating and took up Trail Bike Riding. Shen became very good, even invented many original tricks and was ranked the # 1 Pro in China competing in many X Games. But after about 6 years he decided to return to his real love which was skateboarding.

Every freestyle trick he knows he learned by watching YouTube videos. One video that really gave him inspiration was of Rodney Mullen who he got to skate with years later when Rodney was putting on demos in Beijing. He told Rodney of his dream to compete at the World Round-Up and Rodney encouraged him to do everything he could to get to Canada as he wanted him to achieve his dreams after devoting so much of his life to them. This will be Shen’s fourth trip to Canada to compete at the World Freestyle Round-Up, I told you his story was just short of a miracle. Oh and by the way he got to thank Rodney personally for his advise at last years Round-Up.

2017 World Freestyle Round-Up: 21st Place Pro Division
2015 World Freestyle Round-Up: 12th Place Pro Division
2014 World Freestyle Round-Up: 11th Place Pro Division