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Skaters perform at 7th-grade field day
By RICK GERSHMAN
© St. Petersburg Times, CARROLLWOOD -- Seventh-graders at Ben Hill Middle School got a radical send-off just as the school year was finishing up. Even the ninth-graders were envious when skateboarders from nationally renowned Skatepark of Tampa performed for the seventh-graders' field day. "We got e-mails from the ninth-graders asking why we didn't perform for them," said Ryan Clements, Skatepark of Tampa's general manager. "And we got a bunch of e-mails from the seventh-graders saying they loved it. We definitely were the most unique thing out there." In fact, the skaters were a touch too unique in one respect. When Clements and a half-dozen teenage performers arrived at Ben Hill that morning, they discovered several hundred students playing tug-of-war, shooting hoops and dancing to Britney Spears. Britney Spears? Not exactly board-grinding music for this bunch. Having set up their ramps and rails, the Skatepark crew cranked up the hardest album in rock band Metallica's repertoire: ...And Justice For All. As singer James Hetfield growled about injustice and apocalypse, the Skatepark crew was asked to lose the metal. They agreed, and Oops, I Did It Again did it again. But the Ben Hill kids still got an extreme exhibition to put other field days to shame. For about an hour, the Skatepark crew demonstrated a variety of jumps and grinds over and on several obstacles and received an enthusiastic response. After flipping their boards and flying through the air for about an hour, the crew signed autographs and gave out T-shirts and other memorabilia before recharging with a quick lunch at Hooters. Clements said many north Tampa area skateboarders practice and compete at Skatepark, which is just east of Ybor City and is the only full-size facility of its type in Hillsborough County. With the surging popularity of skateboarding as a mainstream sport, Clements said, north Tampa is increasingly in need of a public place for skaters to perform. The Skatepark crew gets a lot of requests to perform demonstrations but often passes because of expenses and other complications, Clements said. They accepted the invitation from field day organizer Leigh Dawson because she was so easy to work with. Dawson's son, Ben Hill student Brandon, is an avid skater. "We usually get all kinds of crazy requests that are hard to accommodate, but she just left it to us to do our thing, so it was really easy," Clements said. "It was just a great experience."
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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