Josh Byrd and Sarah Byrd-Compton started slalom skateboarding when they were kids growing up in Madison in the early 2000s. In September, the brother-sister duo will represent the United States in the World Skate Games in Italy.
Byrd, 33, and Byrd-Compton, 30, acquired their shared love of skateboarding from their father, Ricky Byrd. Ricky started Mississippi Grassroots Slalom in the 90s amid the sport's revival. Today, the organization still holds local races that attract skaters from throughout the nation.
Slalom skateboarding is one of the oldest disciplines in the sport. Byrd-Compton described the style as similar to slalom skiing.
"It's the same concept where we have cones, but on a hill with a skateboard," Byrd-Compton said. "So, going down a hill through the cones as fast as you can, and whoever can get through it the fastest takes home the win."
Byrd described slalom as a "totally different animal" than other competitive skateboarding styles.
"It's all about speed, precision, being quicker than the guy next to you or the girl next to you," Byrd said.
The siblings showed talent from an early age, traveling the nation to compete. Byrd won the Junior World Champion title in 2003. Byrd-Compton won the Junior Girls World Champion title two years later in 2005.
Byrd and Byrd-Compton both attended Madison Central High School, graduating in 2009 and 2012 respectively.
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After a childhood of winning races, both siblings retired from competing for nearly 20 years.
The pair continued skating casually. Both said they used a skateboard as their preferred method of transportation on their college campuses.
After high school, Byrd-Compton moved out of Mississippi to attend Lipscomb University. In 2020, Byrd, a graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi, moved to join her in Nashville. Today, Byrd-Compton serves as a program lead for the ride share company Lyft, and Byrd works as a web developer for the healthcare communications firm Jarrard, Inc.
In 2022, Byrd returned to competitive slalom skateboarding on a whim. In 2023, Byrd-Compton followed. Both skateboarders fell back into the competitive world quickly despite the significant changes in skateboarding technology from the early 2000s to the 2020s.
"Because of our previous history and experience with it, we got into it super fast and excelled quicker," Byrd said. "It was awesome, kind of jumping back into it. Now, we're both competing at the pro level."
Byrd placed 5th in the 2022 U.S. Nationals, 3rd in the 2023 Texas Sizzler race, 6th in the Pro class at the 2023 U.S. National Championship and 11th in the Pro class at the World Championship. Byrd ranked 14th overall internationally in men's pro slalom skateboarding in 2023.
Byrd-Compton won the 2023 Amateur Women's World Championship and ranked 6th overall internationally in women's pro slalom skateboarding in 2023.
Road to Rome
Because both Byrd and Byrd-Compton placed within the top 20 in their global divisions, they were pre-qualified to secure spots on the 2024 USA Slalom Skateboarding National Team.
Byrd and Byrd-Compton will join just more than 20 other U.S. teammates to compete in September's competition. The 2024 World Skate Games Italia will include a variety of competitions over the course of five days from Sept. 11 to Sept. 15. The competition is in association with the Olympic skateboarding teams.
The U.S. team includes a handful of other southern slalom skateboarders from states including Texas, Florida, North and South Carolina.
"There's little pockets of us," Byrd said. "When we go to races, it's almost like a family reunion every single time because we see all of our friends that we usually skate with."
The competitions in Italy have a bracket-style elimination process.
"We have a practice day ahead of it so that we can kind of get used to the hill," Byrd said. "Each day is going to be a different course. So, we're going to spend all day in the morning doing practice runs and then doing our qualification runs, placing us in the brackets."
Byrd said as the competition nears, he and Byrd-Compton are feeling the pressure.
"It's a little nerve wracking right now because it's crunch time," Byrd said. "We're racing people from Latvia, Brazil, Japan, Czech Republic, all over the world... When you're all trying to push as hard as you can, that's when it gets really serious. During that whole trip, we're going to have to be on top of our nutrition, being smart about everything that we're doing even when we're off board."
Byrd-Compton said she's excited to be able to represent the U.S. in an international competition.
"It's going to be one of the biggest competitions for slalom skateboarding," Byrd-Compton said. "It's going to be nice to be in Italy and just enjoy the sights and sounds of it all as well."
The skating doesn't stop once the siblings return home. After, Byrd and Byrd-Compton will prepare for the national championships in November in Nashville.
Byrd also serves as secretary of USA Slalom Skateboarding, a nonprofit that supports competitive skateboarders. One way the nonprofit carries out its mission is by funding athletes' trips to competitions.
Those interested in supporting the U.S. team's trip to Italy can make donations through the USA Slalom Skateboarding website. Donors can contribute to individual skaters or the team as a whole.
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