SUBMISSIONS

SNOWDAWGY, PHOG
"You know you are a stand up player when a field owner will let you walk on with any group any age level and any skill level and never worry.

You know you are a stand up player when a ref needs a break and walks over to you and asks if you can take over for a few games till he gets back."

BISHOP, PHOG
"You call yourself out on a bounce just because it was an awesome shot."

KELLY ESPE, FREELANCE WRITER APG, NPPL REFEREE
"Just a note that I really like the movement that is happening within paintball - such as yours. I'm hearing more and more about players stressing "NO cheating" more this year than all the others. This is a complete turnaround as bragging about cheating has been all too popular. Keep up the good work. Glad to see it."

GENE JORDAN, PODUP365.COM, CPPA
"You know you are a Stra8balla when, nobody at the hotels you stay at during a tournament never realize that a paintball team even has rooms there."

JOHNNY ROSSMAN, STATE COLLEGE PA
"You know you're a Straight Baller when you call yourself out on grenade
splatter."

Ryan "PB Ghost" Flannery, Cincinnati OH
"I think I'm a Str8balla because I'm the guy who goes out and plays with all the newer kids and doesn't light them up. I'm the guy who says, 'nice shot' or 'nice move' after I get eliminated. I teach my team to have the same respect as this, and I like what the Str8balla movement is doing."

Gabriel "Gaby" Rodriguez, Caguas Puerto Rico
"I definitely wanna be a str8balla. I think it's a great movement, and it's going to be really big around the world. I played organized basketball for 6 years and never had any problem with any ref or player. It's always about having fun and doing your best the right way. I'll continue my tradition of good sportsmanship here in paintball. Paintball it's a great way to make friends, and there's no way people are going to like you if you "bonus ball" them for example. In a couple of years there's going to be thousands of str8ballas around the world!"

BRAD FRANKS
"Actually, I AM A STR8BALLA! I was the Head Ref at a local field and now ref at another after the first closed. I'm a stickler about safety and str8 ballin’. The sport, and it IS a sport, needs more upright respectable and honorable players. I would be honored to join your ranks in this mission to bring paintball back into the positive light it should be. ‘Play hard, play fast, play fair.’"

Rob "Robnoxious" Barde, Eric "Lil E" Barde, Team Unknown, Kihei HI
We the members of "Team Unknown" pride ourselves with our integrity. A str8tballa is the guy who helps the kid (who just shot him out) with gun or hopper problems. Here on Maui, there are few places to play. So needless to say there are a lot of "renegade fields". Safety is still our #1 priority. Chronos.....masks....netting.. ...etc.  In short....I have an Impulse with a WAS Board in it.  When the new PSP and NXL ramping modes came out, well let’s just say....  they are not even in my firmware. It is not my rate of fire that makes the day fun; it is the smile on the younger faces. (Even the one who shot me out!)  Fun and safety are what keeps us going.

HENRY GOLL, NEPLUSULTRA PAINTBALL
As a Christian and a paintball player, I play by one credo only............Honor......... .I reward those who take me out with a nod or a "good shot". I refrain from overshooting, I offer surrender when the situation permits, I help others who look lost or confused, I never talk smack, or show disrespect for the refs or players I play with. I play all out, and I have never failed to have a good day by playing with honor. To cheat or disrespect the rules is to show "contempt" for the game. So I play by the Golden Rule of paintball, "Do to others as you would have them do unto you." Good luck with the str8balla movement. It is similar to my Christian punk days, with the straight edge punk movement.

DRAKE BROWN, TEAM SHADOWSEED, ALAMOGORDO NM
I think it's great what you guys are doing. I'm fairly new to paintball and after reading APG and Splat magazines I still try to figure out why people want to cheat instead of testing their skills and learning from a loss. Some day I hope to open my own field, and one thing I won't tolerate is cheating or not taking the sport or safety seriously enough.

FRITZ DIEFENDERFER, MANASSAS VA
I play paintball in my back woods a lot with my friends. I really hate it when people decide to wipe! My friends do it sometimes and I just don't understand how someone who loves this sport as much as me, can do that and not think that was wrong after they did it. Anyway, I really love your Str8balla idea. I think its great. I'm gonna start trying to get my friends into playing fair. Keep this up and I will be surprised if this doesn't become an international thing.

BRUCE TAYLOR, BEAUMONT TX
Being a str8balla is walking to the dead box in a national event and when your teammates ask where you got hit, you show them your thumb. He says "I would have wiped that!!!" and you shrug and say, “I didn't.”

CHRIS SCOTT, FT. DODGE IA
"My name is Chris Scott and I am a Str8balla. My team and I are from Ft. Dodge, Iowa and we have been playing collectively now for 10 years. We believe in fair play and the 'if you're hit, you're hit' rule with no argument with the refs call. So thanks for taking the time to create such a positive movement in our great sport! Chris Scott, Captain of the Dodge Ballers."

NATE "JEMICIDE" JEMISON, SECTION 8 RENEGADES, LANSING MI
I'm really glad you guys are starting this movement. I recently went to the SPPL Tournament (Michigan Qualifier) hosted by Spec Ops, and all the woodsball teams there that showed up were really great guys and my team talked to just about all of them. However, the two factory sponsored teams (i.e. "pro" teams) had some of the WORST sportsmanship I have ever seen (I saw at least half the book of bad sportsmanship displayed by them) and it really put a damper on the general fun of the tournament for everyone. That tournament was supposed to be about upstanding sportsmanship and those two teams completely disregarded it and played like they normally do anyways. Hopefully, this movement will eventually change teams like that.

CHARLIE "TRRACERACE" HANSEN, OTTAWA ONTARIO, CANADA
You know you're a Str8balla in the company of other Str8ballas when the guy who shot you out in a pitched firefight shakes your hand afterward and
congratulates you, and the only reason you didn't was because he beat you to it. Chivalry and respect make this game the best there is.

BEN "FOXTROT" FAULKNER, EAST LANSING MI
I AM STR8BALLA MATERIAL! I hate to sound repetitive, but let me first thank you for starting the str8balla movement. I am a student at Michigan State University. I play speedball for them, and also play SPPL with THE Greater Lansing area Section 8 Renegades. I am a rare person in the paintball community, for most ballers stick to one or the other. Anyways, because I play both on the field and in the woods, I see two times the wiping that your average person sees. I plan on adding a str8ballas logo onto my scenario vest, and a str8ballas headband for speedball. This will make str8ballas like a tattoo for me... when someone asks me what a str8balla is, I can tell them that a str8balla is a respected and classfull person in the sport of paintball, and in their community. SPREAD THE WORD!!!!!!