Kyle Berard doesn't exactly stand out at Tallwood High (Virginia Beach, Va.). The 15-year-old junior is 5-foot-6, weighs a lean 135 pounds and doesn't play a single school-sponsored sport.

But, believe it not, Berard is the most accomplished athlete among the entire student body at Tallwood. The thing is, nobody knows it.

"He's not really into being a big celebrity," says Dave Berard, Kyle's father. "He'd rather not put himself into the limelight; he'd rather blend in."

	Berard is a top skateboarder.

That's not always easy when you're flying high off of a vertical ramp and winning thousands of dollars for tearing up skateboard parks from coast to coast. To date, Berard has won more than $15,000 since becoming a professional skateboarder in March 2000.

This summer, he traveled throughout Europe with a host of elite skateboarders , including Bob Burnquist, one of Rolling Stone's Athletes of the Year in 1999 , to take part in a series of competitions. He came home to Virginia Beach with $4,500 in prize money.

Then there are the sponsors , Chatman Boards, 17th Street Surf Shop, Hurley clothing, Arnette Sunglasses, Reef Shoes and Ninja Bearings. In addition to getting loads of free stuff ("I'm always giving it away," he says. "There's only so much you need."), Berard also receives checks thanks to companies like Hurley, which match his prize money by up to $1,000 per event.

"When you get a check in the mail for no real reason, it's like, ?Cool,'" says Berard, who played Little League baseball and youth league basketball up until the sixth grade, when he discovered skateboarding at a park called Mount Trashmore near his home. "I'll then sign it and put it in the bank."

According to the teen, his parents have set up a bank account in his name so he can start saving for college. But when you're one of the fastest-rising skateboarding stars in the world, mapping out the next six years of your life isn't exactly easy.

"I'm going to ride for as long as I can," says Berard. "I want to get as much as I can out of it. Traveling is a good experience. " Plus, the money is nice, too."

Berard's climb to the top of the skateboarding ranks began just two years ago. He finished 15th in the SPoT Amateur Street Contest in 1998, and 14th the following year. In his first pro competition, held in Vancouver, Canada, he took 50th out of 200 boarders. Berard finished second in the X Games Street Final Trials this past May, then went overseas to take part in the Skateboarding World Cup , competing in Austria, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium and Germany.

"It was nerve-wracking," says Berard, who was home for less than a week before heading off to the Gravity Games in Providence, R.I., and then the Summer X Games in San Francisco, Calif. "In Austria, we were competing in the arena where the Olympics were held. It was a huge place."

Berard has never been comfortable in the spotlight. He has a small, close group of friends, and says that as far as Tallwood is concerned, he'd much rather continue to blend into the crowd than become the center of its attention.

"I don't know what that would be like," says Berard of being the big man on campus. "You'd worry about what people think of you. It's better to keep it like this."

The greatest athlete no one seems to know.