Sure many may already be somewhat aware of pro player Nicky Cuba’s beginnings in the sport, but for those of you that don’t…here’s Nicky Cuba’s story from his beginnings in the game some eighteen years ago up until today.The Catshack is pleased to have had the opportunity of a lengthy telephone conversation with Nicky direct from his home in San Diego, California. Nicky grew up in Long Island, New York. At the age of 10 or 11 he recalls a Army/Navy Surplus Store barely 10 feet from his doorstep. On the wall of the store hung a few of the old school markers such as the PGP and Bushmaster. This was the very first such store in Long Island to begin carrying paintball equipment Nicky 
recalls. Nicky’s older brother first picked up a paintball marker and like many younger brothers, Nicky just had to follow suit and so began the career of another of the living legends still in the game today.
It was some 8 years ago that Nicky opted to make his move to California to play with XSV. Nicky thoroughly enjoyed the next four years playing the game alongside XSV and their roster. The next four years has been with the Ironmen which has seen some epic games that have made for many a proud moment for Cuba.
A very recent interview with savepaintball.org had Nicky responding to a number of questions posed to him on video. One of the questions posed was in regards to how best the paintball community could be ambassadors of paintball. In my recent travels around the internet this sparked an interesting thread of thoughts and ideas from Brandon Lambertson’s “The Paintball Agenda” with the following comment from Brandon as follows
To your first point about pros not being the best tool to use….fair enough, but like I said in this post originally, this whole little idea was a quickly hashed thought I had after watching the savepaintball.org interview. It wasn’t meant to be the end all say all in our paintball problem but rather a different way to look at it in general, taking the responsibility of rebuilding this sport out of the hands of the players (who some would argue is the reason we have problems) and putting this responsibility into the laps of the industry (which is who “I” argue the real problem comes from).
I also didn’t use “pros” because I think they are personally better equipped as people or as teachers to handle this job, but because I was looking for a resource that was not only already paid for by the industry but one that most people would say does little if anything to repay all this industry money that is spent on them to fly around the world playing paintball. Why not get some use out of that sponsor dollar and have these guys “work” one weekend at their local field showing some new comers the sport of paintball. Now, I’m not one to be star struck myself but if I had never, let’s say, played golf and there was a organization in town that set me up with my first day of golf with Tiger Woods, I would be much more interested in trying golf, than I would if I were to go out with Richard Hinklsmith, the local weekend golf hobbyist.
Please note the above comment is an excerpt from the article and I encourage everyone to take a moment and read the comments in its entirety as I find some of the ideas interesting and the article itself thought provoking.
http://thepaintballagenda.blogspot.com/2009/10/whos-ambassador-now.html
The Catshack took opportunity to ask Nicky what his thoughts were on the 
comments above. Nicky thought the ideas to be good ones, however he did make a point of saying that realistically many of the pro players already do different things in their own way to be ambassadors of the sport including clinics and also cited supporting such things as the recent paintball fund raising effort for young Peyton held at Capital Edge Paintball which saw members of the LA Ironmen, Dynasty and Explicit in attendance. What about Rich Telford opening up his home for young players such as Junior Brown as another good example of the ambassadorial spirit that does exist. As well Nicky himself has not only taken on the instruction of D4 Team The Max’d Kidz, he is also readying to sponsor and work with another team in and around the same age group. Nicky also mentioned that realistically many pros have lives and full time jobs to support themselves, yes many do not make a full time job out of playing pro paintball thus it is not always feasible to set aside anymore time than they already do in support of paintball… ok fair enough in this writers opinion.
As far as highlights for Nicky in 2009, Nicky concurs with Brandon Short on the PSP 2nd event win and adds his own triumph competing with Lisbon Benefica at the Millenium series where the team won the Semi Pro Division and are now going Pro.
Nicky also agrees with Brandon on the need for the Ironmen to put more practice under their belts as they take a little time off before getting back to a more serious practice regimen come the end of January of 2010.
Last but not least Nicky Cuba has taken his NuSkool trademark to a more 
serious level. The name has existed for some 10 years but it is only recently that Nicky decided to focus on both his apparel company “NuSkool” as well as the creation of something he calls the “NuSkool Academy” as well as the “NuSkool University” which is to involve sponsorship and training for young teams in the San Diego area. The NuSkool apparel line now involves not only TShirts and hats but hoodies, bracelets, goggle straps and lanyards as well as Special Edition Paintball markers including the DM 9.
In summary and in the opinion of at least this writer, what Nicky Cuba does for paintball is truly admirable. His treatment of the young Max’d Kidz paintball team and other similar undertakings are truly deserving of respect despite Mr. Cuba’s humble parting comments to the Catshack Reports “some of what we do is not for another moment in the spotlight or fortune, but rather it is to give back and help out”
Props Mr Cuba and welcome to the Catshack Hall of Fame
To see more about the NuSkool Apparel line please take a moment and visit http://nickycuba.com/
For those wishing to see the savepaintball.org video interview for yourself please see below
