 |
PJ Ladd | |
|---|---|
 PJ Ladd in June 2007 in Saffron Walden, England for the Plan B demo | |
| Born | January 11, 1983 |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Skateboarder |
Patrick John Ladd (born January 11, 1983), [1] professionally known as PJ Ladd, is an American professional skateboarder whose stance is regular. Ladd was labelled an "east coast legend" by fellow professional skateboarder and team manager John Rattray in May 2013. [2]
Ladd was born in Rockland, Massachusetts [3] and grew up in Boston. Ladd revealed in a 2013 interview that skateboarding was a prominent aspect of his childhood in Boston: "I would skate my box and flatbar in the warehouse next to my father's auto parts store and then take the train into downtown to skate. Before that I skated this concrete stage in the high school parking lot. And before that, just in front of my house. It was good." Also in the 2013 interview, Ladd explained that his upbringing strengthened his character and stated that he is "grateful" for his upbringing, even though it was difficult, "because it made me [Ladd] who I am." [4]
Although Ladd was well known in the local Boston skateboarding scene before he headlined the Coliseum Skateshop's video PJ Ladd's Wonderful Horrible Life, it was his part in the 2002 shop video that catapulted him to the attention of the skateboard industry. [5]
Before he joined the Flip Skateboards brand, where he became a professional rider, Ladd was an amateur for Element Skateboards through the assistance of professional skateboarder Donny Barley. [4] In Flip's second film of the Sorry trilogy Really Sorry, Ladd's video part does not feature an accompanying soundtrack and a title card that reads "Silence is Golden" prefaces the part. [6]
Alongside professional skateboarders such as Paul Rodriguez, Ryan Gallant, and Pat Duffy, Ladd joined the reformed Plan B Skateboards company. Ladd can be seen in the Plan B promotional video Superfuture. [7]
In addition to professional skateboarders Arto Saari, Levi Brown, and Tom Karangelov, Ladd is a team member of the inaugural "NB#" ("New Balance Numeric") skateboard team that is owned by the New Balance shoe company. With American origins in the capital city of Boston, Massachusetts, New Balance was considered an appropriate fit for Ladd, as he is a native of the state. [2] Ladd stated following the announcement of the brand's team: "I believe in New Balance being a no bullshit shoe brand from Boston that successful and makes great shoes. I think it has a lot to add." [4]
Ladd was a competitor in the 2013 Munich, Germany X Games "Real Street" event, in which the competitors' tailored video parts are voted on by the public. Ladd's opponent in the opening round was Austyn Gillette and his video part consists of tricks performed on benches, ledges, and picnic tables. [8]
Ladd appears in the Electronic Arts video games Skate , Skate 2, [16] and Skate 3.
Ladd won the Battle at the Berrics V competition after defeating Mike Mo Capaldi in the championship round. [17] For the sixth BATB contest, Ladd qualified for the championship battle against Paul Rodriguez and won the competition for a second successive year. [18] [19]
As of May 2013, Ladd divides his time between his home state of Massachusetts and Los Angeles, California, U.S. [3] During his time away from skateboarding, Ladd reads and engages in "recharge time."
Steve Berra is an American professional skateboarder and director, and is also the cofounder/co-owner of the skateboarding website The Berrics.
Daewon Song is an American professional skateboarder. He is the co-founder and co-owner of Almost Skateboards and Thank You Skateboards, and continues to skate for the latter company. Song was named the 2006 "Skater of the Year" by Thrasher magazine, an award that is widely considered to be one of the most significant honors in skateboarding.
Tom Penny is a professional skateboarder from Abingdon, United Kingdom (UK). As of January 2013, Penny is sponsored by the Flip skateboard deck brand and his Cheech & Chong signature deck is one of the brand's highest-selling deck products.
Ryan Allen Sheckler is an American professional skateboarder and entrepreneur, and the star of the MTV-produced reality television series Life of Ryan, which ran from 2007 to 2009. He also starred in four seasons of the short-format video series Sheckler Sessions on Red Bull TV. Sheckler was listed in Fox Weekly's "15 Most Influential Skateboarders of All-Time" article.
Andrew Reynolds is an American professional skateboarder known for co-founding Baker Skateboards in 2000 with artist Jay Strickland. He is now Baker Skateboard's sole owner. Reynolds established Bakerboys Distribution with Erik Ellington and Jim Greco in 2007. Bakerboys Distribution provides distribution for closely related in-house skateboard companies such as Deathwish Skateboards and Shake Junt. He is also the head of design at Altamont Apparel. Reynolds primarily skates street. He has been called one of the most influential skaters of all time.
Chad Muska is an American professional skateboarder, musician and entrepreneur. In November 2012, Skin Phillips, editor-in-chief of Transworld Skateboarding, described Muska as "one of the most marketable pros skateboarding has ever seen."
Paul Martin Rodriguez Jr., also known by his nickname P-Rod, is an American professional street skateboarder and actor. Rodriguez has won a total of eight medals at the X Games, four of them gold, with the most recent first-place victory occurring in Los Angeles, California in July 2012.
Crailtap is a skateboarding distribution company based in Torrance, California, United States. The distribution company is home to Girl Skateboards, Chocolate Skateboards, Royal Skateboard Trucks, and Fourstar Clothing.
Kerry Getz is an American professional skateboarder.
Chris Haslam is a Canadian professional skateboarder whose natural stance is right foot forward, or 'Goofy'. He is recognized as an innovative skateboarder whose skateboarding is defined by creativity and progression.
A varial flip is a type of skateboarding trick in which the skateboard rotates around its vertical axis, or its vertical axis and its horizontal axis simultaneously. The first flip trick, called a kickflip but originally known as a "magic flip", was invented by professional skateboarder Rodney Mullen.
Colin McKay is a Canadian professional skateboarder who is widely recognized for his involvement with the original Plan B Skateboards "superteam" as well as the subsequent relaunch of the brand in 2005.
Ronnie Aaron Creager is a "goofy-footed" American professional skateboarder from Orange, California.
Ryan Gallant is an American professional skateboarder with a goofy-footed stance.
Eric Koston is an American professional skateboarder and company owner. He has been featured in the Tony Hawk's video game series and the Electronic Arts (EA) video games Skate 2 and Skate 3.
The Berrics is a private indoor skatepark owned by professional skateboarders Steve Berra and Eric Koston. It is also a website providing content filmed in the skatepark, as well other skateboard-related media. The facility's name is a portmanteau of the owners' names.
Plan B Skateboards is a skateboarding company based in San Diego California, United States, founded by Mike Ternasky, Danny Way and Colin McKay. PlanB has been manufacturing and selling premium skateboard hard goods and apparel since 1991.
Michael Capaldi, popularly known as Mike Mo Capaldi, is a professional regular-footed skateboarder who gained popularity following his video part in Forecast, a video produced by professional skateboarder Paul Rodriguez.
Torey Jamieson Pudwill, also known by his nicknames "T-Puds and The Worm", is an American professional street skateboarder.
Erik Ellington is an American professional skateboarder.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)