CJ Maldonado

My father Victor, who is also my mentor, sat me on my first skateboard, a Steve Caballero Dragon II deck when I was only two years old. From then on, I was hooked. I was introduced to freestyle at a young age as well but never attempted to learn it until I was 20. My mother and father are the biggest mentors in my life; they have taught me how to cherish every moment and enjoy life. When I told them about this freestyle contest up in Canada that I would like to see, they said let’s go. And so my entire family got in the car and attended the World Freestyle Round-Up in 2015. We fell in love with the atmosphere of the competition and how happy all the competitors were. I loved the freestyle skateboard community and wanted to be apart of it. I remember seeing Kevin Harris skating to “Get Lucky” by Daft Punk during a practice session. That spoke to me, and so I wanted to give it a try. Kevin gave me some pointers and got me started. It’s still surreal to me that I can call him a friend of mine among many other freestylers at the contest. After two years of spectating at the event, I decided to compete in the Amateur Division. This will be my third year competing at the contest.

I finished my AA Degree at Clark Community College and have just transferred over to Washington State University where I plan to pursue a Business Administration degree or Marketing degree. I currently work part-time as a product selector at UNFI. which works well with my school schedule. In my spare time, I enjoy snowboarding, fishing, hiking, collecting things, and playing my Ukulele. Maybe Monty Little and I will play Duelling Ukuleles at the contest. Ha Ha

Speaking of the World Round-Up, this an event that I love attending each year, and not only because of the incredible skating. Freestyle is an element of skateboarding that still surprises me to this day. I can never determine what the next trick the contestants will pull off in their routines. The people who run the contest are also the reason why I want to keep coming back. I love the Brotherhood / Sisterhood that this contest brings and can hardly wait to see and skate with everyone from all parts of the world. We are all connected and become closer as a family from Skateboarding Freestyle.