Encounters, good and bad haha Long stories, but believe me, they are fun and beautiful !
2010, Premiere of Stay gold in Paris, we were all waiting in front of the cinema, I was with a friend who was also a fan of emerica, and suddenly, pros came from behind, my friend was surprised he even let out a little "Woah" ! Anyway, they had just entered the cinema, and it was our turn.. We managed to enter the first, and when we arrived in the room, romero and westgate were seated, we looked at each other and began to say a "Hello man? What's up? Good?" , this is followed by photos with them. I didn't speak English well at that time, but I was so surprised and happy that they spoke to us directly, and I was surprised how small they were !!
This is followed by after the video, we grabbed Braydon Szafranski to take a picture too, because we were absolute Baker fans (even still now!
), and very very nice and funny, at the time my picture was taken, my camera had a little problem, braydon wanted to take it to look and at that moment, the flash went off, he laughed, but the photo is rather natural and cool ! I remember that after all that, we went back to the hotel dancing and laughing like idiots because we were happy like 16-year-old teenagers !
- Summer 2015, globe demo in an indoor skate park 1 hour from my house. I finally met my three idols from my early days in skateboarding: Haslam, Barletta, Mullen.
I was like a child, I managed to ask Louis Barletta for a photo, who a few days later liked my photo on Instagram! Guy so nice and a bit shy, which I would not have believed !
Haslam very imposing, tall, the beard gives him a mysterious aspect, but also very calm and composed! I didn't want to disturb him too much because he was in the middle of a demo too !
This follows every skater's dream of meeting THE first pro skater he saw on video, the one who started it all.. Mr RODNEY MULLEN. I must say that young people should take into account the inspiration of this guy, humble, intelligent, captivating.. I discussed with him on the reasons which helped him to remain motivated, and of course I told him that it was thanks to him that I started skateboarding, he had tears in his eyes, maybe me too.. In short, I can die in peace !
- Supra demo, in 2017. Same skatepark as the globe demo. I went straight to Lizard King as soon as I could because he was also one of my favorite bakerboys skaters I told him I was a huge baker and deathwish fan and was thrilled to meet him, he directly hugged me "OHHH YEAH DUDE", and I took a picture with him! The legend of Lizard very open and kind is therefore true haha
I then sat next to Clint Walker during the demo, who was injured. He had an Alan Jackson t-shirt on, and I told him that I was a country music fan too (I had a Johnny Cash t-shirt on), and we talked about that then.
Second and BIG disappointment during this demo and it breaks my heart because it was really one of my favorites from the Bakerboys team when I saw their videos .. Jim greco .. He skated maybe 30 / 45 minutes , tried a very very difficult trick, and failed. I know that Greco's personality is strange from the start, but I didn't expect such a reaction from him.. indeed, end of the demo, it was raining but we were sheltered, and the other pros were with people asking for pictures or chatting. He walks towards me, and I tell him almost the same thing as Lizard and answer me "Yes yes yes I'll be back I'll get the keys", he was looking for who had the keys to get into the van. And answered me this very coldly without looking at me. He then passed me again and went straight into the van to land with another guy.
Decidedly, big disappointment.. I didn't even want to go see him in the van despite the door not being closed. When I saw lizard king who next was taking tons of pictures and taking the time to chat (while he had his hot dog ready to eat).. big difference in mentality..
- The latest, the Diamond team came on demo in 2018.
We arrive on a spot in the street where the pros were there, and there was jamie foy who was going to throw on a rail of .. 12 steps I believe. Without lying to you .. He put 50 50, five o, front feeble* (*2 tries for this one), lipside .. FIRST TRY !!! This guy is a machine. Not just a machine, also a very nice and open person, I was able to take a picture easily.
At the end of the street session, before going to the skate park for the demo, I went to see Torey Pudwill, who was one of my favorites, and thanked him for everything he did in skateboarding, that it motivates and that I appreciate his mentality. He was very touched and then we took a picture.
Later at the skatepark, I was going to join a friend who was on the other side of the park, and I passed by Pudwill, who had a Belgian beer, I told him that was a good beer, and then I don't know how it happened, but we naturally discussed .. the skate park, its setup, then the mentality of young skaters, of the new generation .. Then my girlfriend came to join us, all embarrassed and at the same time smiling (She finds him very very handsome according to her haha), and he asked her who she was, she said it was my girlfriend, he then released "You are two beautiful people" to us, and she took a photo with him, and then the other pros threw goodies from a box (t-shirt, cap, etc.) and Pudwill leaves, and comes back in our direction after taking two t-shirts from the box himself, one for me and my girlfriend. Such a touching gesture..
Then at the end he tried a trick on a rail landing in 50 50 stall, and i really like the photo, i decided to take a photo of him, and at the end i showed him, he said "nice dude", and we said goodbye after that because they had to catch their train.
A week later, I posted the photo on instagram or my story I don't know anymore, and I see within an hour "Torey Pudwill tagged you in a post", he put my photo on his insta account .. One of my dreams of being shared by a pro for my photos has come true... Torey pudwill is truly the nicest pro skateboarder I've ever met.