Jackson Free Press

Ricky Byrd was an avid skater in his youth. He spent the '70s street skating with friends and participating in several races. He grew up from his youthful skating ventures to have "real jobs" with Simmons and General Electric. He got married and started a family. However, Byrd says that skating has always been his passion, and owning a skate shop has been his dream for the past 30 years.

On May 21, 2005, Byrd opened his shop, Byrddogz Board Sports, at the Log Cabin Village on Highway 51. Byrd's vision for the shop is to make it "a place kids can call home, where they can hang out, watch videos and have a good time."

The shop's philosophy is to support all types of skating: street skating, long boards and pure speed boards, to name a few. Byrd uses his shop as a hang-out place, where kids have pizzas, talk about skating and have a good time. He holds weekly meetings with neighborhood skater kids, organizes races like the Luna Slalom Jam, which was held in Fondren the first two years, then in Ridgeland this year. Byrd is organizing a series of races this summer and hopes to build a team that he will take to some events around the country.

Byrd even took some kids to "Lords of Dogtown" and says that it was a great movie, accurately portraying what skating is really about "It's all about having fun!"

He's devoted to the kids, to the sport of skating, but he is also a devoted husband and father. "All of this wouldn't be happening, if it were not for Lisa." He says that his wife's love and support are the backbone of his shop. Byrd is also the proud dad of two "awesome" kids, Josh who is 14 and Sarah who is 11.

The Byrds kids are impressive skaters. Josh is the Junior Tight Slalom World Champion for 2003 and 2004. Sarah is the 2004 Cyber Slalom Champion. The Cyber Slalom race involves skating on flat ground so pumping is your only means of building up speed, and you have to skate through twenty-five cones aligned in a straight line that are 6 feet apart. If you knock off one cone, you are disqualified.

The Byrds are going to the slalom race again this coming September, when the race is held in Mobile Bay, Calif. They'll meet skate legends and mingle with family and friends.

Byrd says that his goal is to erase the stigma that has been stamped on skaters. "I don't know what it is with a piece of wood and four wheels that makes you a criminal," Byrd says sadly.

He says that business owners should rally together and help provide a place where kids can skate. Skaters are banned from streets, public parks and most neighborhoods in Jackson, Ridgeland and Madison. He says that these three cities should join forces and build concrete skate parks where races and other events could be held. Tupelo and Southaven have skate parks where parents can watch their children skate and families can hang out and picnic together.

"Imagine 10 thousand tennis players without a tennis court" Byrd says,

Skating is a sport like any other, and the participants need a place where they can practice and enjoy their game.

Byrddogz Board Sports, 558 Highway 51, Ridgeland, 601-605-5845.