2021 Paintball Coach of the Year Nominees Announced, Iconic Awards.

Iconic Awards, 2021 Paintball Coach of the Year Nominees Announced.

12/1/2021

The Coach of the Year is Awarded to the best coach of the 2021 season. When looking at nominees, we looked at both success throughout the season, as well as player development abilities, strategic approach, flexibility during events, and roster building ability.

These coaches represent the elite of the professional paintball coaching world, and we are proud to announce them as this years nominees!

2021 Coach of the Year Nominees

Ryan Brand, San Antonio XFactor

Ryan has been among the elite of pro paintball coaches for more than a decade. He is one of the architects behind the modern style of communication and play on the professional field. His, at the time, novel use of advanced codes to relay play calls, situational adjustments, and information have since been evidenced at all levels of competitive paintball. His ability to adjust quickly to an opponent on the fly is perhaps his best known attribute as a coach and he has become famous for his sense to rapidly diagnose decaying situations on the field and concede points to reset his teams position. Ryan continues to coach one of the best teams in the league, San Antonio XFactor, and is also a very successful coach and player in the classic paintball division.

Kevin Bredthauer, San Diego Dynasty

Kevin "Skinny K" Bredthauer has perhaps the hardest job in paintball, coaching San Diego Dynasty. The team is full of elite veterans whom are among the highest paintball-IQ players in the sports history, and with that comes the need for a coach that is best-in-class at play-calling, and also has the ability to control the varying emotional levels of a pro pit. Kevin joined Dynasty just one season ago after the departure of long-time coach Rusty Glaze; he has since earned two wins and a Season Championship with San Diego and is highly respected for his play-calling ability and intimate knowledge of the X's and O's of paintball. Kevin looks to field an even stronger roster for 2022 and he has a strong nose for finding talent, as we saw with the recent signing of Damien Vasquez.

Travis Lemanski, Los Angeles Infamous

Los Angeles Infamous leader, Travis Lemanski, is the quintessential paintball coach; he has all the accolades and World Championships as a top-level player for two decades, he commands a huge amount of respect across the league, and he is incredibly talented at scouting opposing teams. While at events, Travis relentlessly scouts opposing teams to find gaps in their play style and play calling. This has led to his style as a more aggressive play caller, as his intimate knowledge of the opposition's movements and tendencies leads to more opportunities to expose their guard. He is also a successful coach in the classic paintball league and runs one of the fastest growing companies in the industry.

Todd Martinez, Houston Heat

Every so often, a coach comes along that is the perfect mix of world-class strategist, intense motivator, and master planner; Todd Martinez just may be that coach. He combines in-depth scouting, a high level ability to rapidly diagnose the opposition, and a high level of intensity in the pits to be one of the best coaches in the game's history. This season he was able to secure an event win and put up a best-in-league preliminary round record for the year. Todd's continual demand for excellence from his players has made Houston one of the most feared teams in the paintball world and he should find continued success next year with the program.

Mike Hinman, San Diego Aftermath

Mike Hinman is an elite talent evaluator and player developer; he demands excellence of his players, he demands progression in their ability, and this has earned him a huge amount of respect and success throughout his career. Just one year ago when Mike reacquired the Aftermath team he helped create, the program was in shambles and one of the worst teams in the league. In just one season, Mike has rebuilt the entire roster with promising young players and launched the team from 19th place to an impressive 8th place overall in the league; this is nothing short of extraordinary. After selling his paint company APX, Mike plans to put a large focus on the program along with his assistant coach, Jerry Van Cleve, and should be on pace to break into the top of the league next year.

2 Comments

Christopher Elliott

12/2/2021 10:10:47 am

Travis Lemanski is my vote

Stormy Daniels

12/2/2021 08:07:22 pm

SK and especially mike hinman, have probably been the best coaches who bring up amateur players to the pro level. SK did an amazing job with the ironmen in 2011-2012 bringing up players like toke hamil, Arod, Spicka into the pro league. He got that team to over perform in my opinion, They made top 4 consistently, there’s a reason why damage picked him up the year after. and don’t get me started on hinman. I saw that guy roll into chicago 2010 at badlands with mostly d2 players on his aftermath roster, and they made Sunday. Mercy ruled infamous and XSV that event.