đź‘‘Shawn Shannonđź‘‘ Street Kingpin of May.
We are here with The Kingpin of May, Shawn Shannon!
Shawn came on to Street Kingpins the month of May 2019 and absolutely threw down. He put some tricks down that we’ve never seen done on a skateboard. We would like to recognize Shawn as the Kingpin of May!
Shawn, Congratulations! Thanks for being a Street Kingpin! Whats up?
What’s up man? Not much, hanging out chilling and skating today.
That’s what we like to hear! Congratulations on being the Top Skateboarder on Street Kingpins this month.
Thanks so much, I’m STOKED!
Shawn is representing the title for Top Kingpin of Delaware.
Are you originally from Delaware?
Yeah, well I was born in Maryland but raised in Delaware, so yeah.
Tell us about the skate scene out there.
So, actually in the beginning of last summer it was pretty dry. I was the only one out at the park, for like a month or two. There would be a couple scooter kids a few rollerbladers every once in a while. Then just on 4/20 this year we threw a competition down. I’d say probably about a month and a half before that competition a lot more skaters started to show up. I don’t know if they heard about the competition, but it was in the air ya know?
The contest drew a lot of people to our park. So now, now the skate scene is pretty good in town. There is always somebody when you pull up to the park. It’s never empty really. The town is actually thinking about creating us a new park because of the popularity of the skatepark growing.
That is absolutely incredible! Because of the community movement of you guys putting on skate contests and pushing the skate scene you gained the recognition of the town to promote skateboarding again. That is awesome. We have seen that happening a lot recently. There is a huge movement for skateparks, and there have been tons of new super quality skatepark builds going up. There are a lot of places that could use good skateparks too. That is really cool to see! We hope the town puts up a new park for ya soon!
Right!
What town is that in?
Smyrna Delaware.
Is that the skatepark you grew up at?
When I first started skating, yup! That was the first skatepark I ever started skating at.
How long have you been skating?
Well actually I started skating in 2011. It was on and off. Then I took a break to learn gymnastics and body awareness type deal, ya know? So, I took 3 years off skateboarding. I popped back on 4 years ago. I’ve been skating daily since I hopped back on.
Wow! In my last 4 years of skating I have actually gotten worse at kickflips, and I can’t ollie as high, so… nice work. You crush it!
Haha thanks! It’s the stomps, the rush ya know? Kept trying to get new tricks. Then I started learning a whole bunch of crazy stuff out in Connecticut with some friends. My crew was just in the loop. They would always be skating and always making me come skate even when If I didn’t want to. Though, I did always want to.
It takes that crew to get stoked.
Yeah, it definitely takes good vibes.
Tell us about some of the influential skateboarders in your crew?
I usually skate with Brandon Mesa @liluniverse. We traveled a lot together. He and Tori @gasgirlll are the main ring leaders that set up that skate contest that we put on 4/20. But I have so many people that I skate with and draw inspiration from. You know you just pop up at a random park and it’s like, “yo whats up!” Some of my best skater buddies are @vini_holla @og_oskardean @been_splashin_ @brendan_conners @beauvibin @streetgenius
I’m pretty sure that everyone in the skate scene knows each other through one degree of separation.
Did you ever have a sponsorship, or have a shop hook up with skateboarding?
Honestly, I never went for the sponsorship route. I mean when I first started skating I thought it would be cool. That’s a big goal for all the kids growing up, to be sponsored, ya know? Once I got older, and after that break and I started focusing on skating every day to escape negative situations in my life. Returning from that break, a sponsor wasn’t even my goal for skateboarding anymore. It was just really for the fun. It’s for the love of it. I love to be on my board, I love to learn new tricks. Although I haven’t really ever been sponsored, there are a few companies that I love to represent and have helped me out with skateboarding. @lobbyworldwide @easy_grip_co and @yocskateboards check them all out!
That is what skateboarding is all about! Keep doing it for the love of the shred!
Sometimes taking a break and giving yourself time for other things in life can really recharge you. By having that perspective, and then having a good crew to start skating with again, can really help you appreciate skateboarding even more. Especially in your case with taking a break, focusing on your health, learning gymnastics, and then falling back in love with skateboarding. You can definitely see the momentum there.
I assume you learned this handstand ninja flip onto your skateboard trick from gymnastics then?
Yep, parkour. I used to teach it as my job so, I knew a little bit but I got to learn some more if im teaching these kids how to do it. So it pretty much just went hand in hand. I was actually influenced to try that trick from William Spencer. I saw him post a video doing it on a smaller wall and walking on his hands then kong vault onto the board. It’s called a Kong Vault. I was like, damn I could do that. And that was it, went and did it.
Well it was insane! Shawns got all kinds of cool tricks posted on the app. Make sure to subscribe to his profile and send him some Street Credit. He not only goes huge but he gets pretty techy too, and is just an all around consistent skateboarder.
There are a lot of reasons why Shawn Shannon deserves the title for May Kingpin. He is actively posting incredible skateboarding shots. He has a great attitude about skateboarding, and he is a positive influence in his skateboard community. We are hooking Shawn up with some Street Kingpins rewards to keep him out skating.
Thanks man! I am really enjoying the app, you guys are doing great work. I really like how it gives skaters the opportunity for skaters to share their skate story. It’s like an Instagram specifically for skateboarding. Its a really cool way to share your story and network.
Shawn, we are all stoked to see your skate story continues! Congratulations on being the top skateboarder of the month! We look forward to seeing more from you down the road. Subscribe to Shawn Shannon on Street Kingpins today! Who will be the Kingpin of June? Get on Street Kingpins and it could be you!
Kingpin of May - Full Video
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