On a summer day in Tinley Park, IL as 12-year-old Ronnie Dizon accompanied his father in their back yard he saw his next-door neighbor shooting a paintball gun. His neighbor walked over and offered to let them try it.
That was the very first time Ronnie picked up a paintball gun and instantly asked his dad if he could have one. His father without hesitation said no. Eventually, both of his neighbors had paintball guns but him.
He asked his mother for one and she took him over to Bad Boyz Toyz for his birthday and acquired his very first paintball gun. During his teen years, his friends built a paintball field in a forest preserve that was nearby.
“I'm not gonna lie I was terrified of playing paintball I didn’t wanna get hit. I was so scared like I would shoot it and I was like ‘damn this shit goes fast.’ So they built a paintball field in the forest preserve that they put their heart into and that was the first time I stepped into a paintball field.”
The actual first time he stepped into a regulated paintball field was with his cousins. He recalls being terrified of getting hit, not hitting a single person and not even moving from the same spot, yet he loved the adrenaline. As a teen, Ronnie began to dive deeper into paintballing and created a team alongside his friends and competed locally.
“The issue is people have different motives. Like, ‘yeah this is a fun thing for me but I don’t wanna take it that serious.’ So then you start losing friends, we're growing up they're starting to party, they start to get jobs so they can’t play paintball. I just stuck with it and eventually, I worked at a field called Chicago Land Paintball.”
Ronnie knew if he was around paintball at all times and immersed himself in that environment he would excel at what he loved. His career as a pro kicked off in 2011 when he won his first pro event alongside Chicago Aftershock. It was against San Diego Dynasty for NPPL Las Vegas. Dynasty was a team he looked up to his entire life and his idol Oliver Lang was part of it.
“We were tied with them to go to game three. Lang's like, ‘this is another day for Dynasty nobody wants it’ and he’s screaming this against us and I'm there like ‘holy fuck’ this is like the biggest game of my entire life.”
The first year he turned pro Ronnie won a world championship and a world cup. In 2012 he was recruited into Houston Heat where he went on to gain more experience and rack up accolades.
In 2014, Houston Heat cut him from the team. At first, he thought it was because of his playing ability. Although he came to realize after some time it was because of his lack of maturity and admitted to his mistakes.
After he was cut he began to play for Chicago Aftershock in 2015. Which he didn’t enjoy as much because at the time it was more of a club than a team. He had the drive and determination to build the team and in 2015 they won third in the world cup.
He stuck around with Aftershock for another year and in 2017 he received a call from Houston Heat and they offered him a position on the team once again. “It was a big weird feeling like ok do I come back to the team that cut me? — Or do I come back and show them a comeback story. That’s what I did I came back and evolved my game that entire year. We won a tournament and I was an incremental part of that,” said Ronnie.
“In over 20 years of playing on teams, Ronnie Dizon is one of the best teammates anyone could ask for. He leads by example and grinds harder than 99% of the league. His mindset is not only to be a top tier professional paintball player but also to prove the world that he is there because of his talent.”
Professional Paintball Player for HOUSTON HEAT
Today, aside from still playing paintball professionally he runs a Youtube channel with over 19,000 subscribers. On his channel he documents all his adventures in which his career as a pro has taken him alongside vlogs, he calls Dizon Docs.
Additionally Ronnie has started a few gaming channels where he livestreams Call of Duty Mobile and uploads multiple times a week.
Within the past three years, he has spent his life on an airplane traveling and competing professionally. Last year he played in 13 tournaments which took place in Australia, Europe and the United States. In 2019 alongside Houston Heat they won their second consecutive world cup.
“A big motivator for me was to prove to my dad and mom. Actually, my mom had a lot of passion for it. He was about it but not as much. The first tournament my dad ever came to was world cup in 2018. I knew in my head that we were gonna win that tournament. We won I walked straight into his arms the first thing I said was ‘this is why I did all those things in the past’ and he replied ‘I understand now.’”
When he’s not on the road competing he spends his time home in Chicago with his girlfriend Stella and their two cats Pablo and Pepper.
“I think ever since Ronnie got cut from his team years ago he thought that he always had something to prove. Not only prove something but wanted to show his fans and team why he was brought back to one of the top teams in the league. Ronnie’s work ethic was different from when I first met him than now. Now, he’s a business owner and has the mentality of one. He is also trying to be the best paintball player in the world. You could imagine how physically and mentally exhausting that is.”
Ronnie’s girlfriend
In March, Ronnie once again hit the road alongside Houston Heat with high hopes of going for their third consecutive world cup. He also plans on uploading more to YouTube and most importantly building his legacy as a professional paintball player. He’s also devoting his time and spreading his knowledge with those who want to get involved in paintball.