Recognizing the top seven performers of the 2024 season.
November 11, 2024 by Edward Stephens, Matt Fazzalaro and Graham Gordon in Awards with 0 comments
Ultiworld is pleased to announce our annual Club Awards, starting with the All-Club First Team and Player of the Year finalists in each division. While we consider both regular season and postseason performance, because of the nature of the Club division, we weight success in the Series and at Nationals above all else. This year, with an uneven regular season, the postseason emphasis is perhaps greater than ever. The Club Awards are voted on by Ultiworld reporters, contributors, and editors.
Our All-Club teams recognize the top performers across the division. Our First Team and Second Team display the top seven and next seven players who had the best seasons. As our voting process is ordered, the top vote-getters for All-Club honors function as the ordered list in our Player of the Year voting — our highest individual award. The seven players listed here are finalists for the Player of the Year.
Player of the Year Award
All-Club First Team
All-Club Second Team
Defensive Player of the Year Award
Offensive Player of the Year Award
Breakout Player of the Year Award
Coach(es) of the Year Award
Club Awards Voting Breakdown
Snubs and Superlatives (Coming soon)
All-Club 2024 First Team
Chris Kocher (PoNY)
For the past seven seasons, Chris Kocher has been the most consistent star in the division.1 This season he absorbed even more touches on the PoNY O-Line with disc-dominant players like Sean Keegan and Ryan Osgar leaving the team. In New York’s bracket wins over Ring of Fire and Revolver, he played seemingly every role for their offense. He frequently lurked in the shadows as PoNY ran their sets, always ready to fill if the flow stagnated. Then, he’d run every other with John Randolph or Jimmy Mickle, always finding a way to get open in the handler space against the division’s best matchup defenders. Kocher continues to do everything at the highest level, with no sign of slowing down.
Daan De Marrée (Machine)
If there were any questions about 2023 European Player of the Year Daan De Marrée’s ability to adapt to the level of play in US Club ultimate, he more than answered them. The 19-goal, eight-assist performance in just 5.5 games2 only tells some of the story. Between his boundless energy, aggressive play style, and clear determination, De Marrée often took it upon himself to carry Machine to the end zone. He’s one of the main reasons why Machine reached semis again in spite of the injuries they sustained during the fall.
Jack Hatchett (Rhino Slam!)
Ever since Boston Ironside’s title run in 2016, Jack Hatchett has been one of the best in the division in a role that’s hard to fill; taking the other team’s biggest downfield threat and providing verticality on the turn for D-lines, both as a hucker and a receiver. This season, he found himself in a strange place: the offense for Portland. One of the keys to Rhino’s success at Nationals was the fact that practically everyone on that line can both huck and cut deep, and Hatchett was perhaps the epitome. He finished Nationals with a team-leading 16 assists in addition to seven goals, showing off the true versatility of his game.
Jeff Babbitt (DiG)
Back with DiG for the first time since 2018, Babbitt slotted into a stacked offensive line and made it look like he’d been playing with that group for years. While his aerial dominance is still his bread and butter – and remained so during his frequent D-line appearances at Nationals – with DiG it seemed that he focused first on making space for teammates by trying to draw their defenders with his cuts and reputation. The new face of DiG helped lead the team to a highlight-filled regular season. Babbitt has the ability to affect winning on the field no matter what team he plays for and it’s thanks to that he has earned his first All-Club First Team appearance.
Nate Goff (Machine)
Players with a repertoire as deep as Goff’s are rare. He can play any role on the field, on offense or defense, with professional aplomb. At Nationals this year, he had to do everything much more frequently. He chewed through yardage with his cuts and his throws, made jawdropping plays on offense and defense, and sprinkled in a healthy mix of specialty assignments on the rare occasions when he wasn’t one of Machine’s feature pieces. High usage looked great the Nate Goff way, and it earned him his second career All-Club appearance.
Raphy Hayes (Rhino Slam!)
Hayes has been a fixture on our All-Club lists in the 2020s – this year makes him four-for-four (with three of those on the First Team). It’s easy to see why. His world-class speed, ups, and hand-eye coordination make him a dream receiver. (Or, if you’re a defender, a nightmare cover.) The boost that Hayes’ talents gave to Rhino’s offense in 2024, especially during their torrid Nationals run, was a big part of what propelled them to their first ever championship. What a player. What a year.
Sam Little (PoNY)
In true phoenix fashion, Sam Little rose from the ashes of injury3 and let loose on any who crossed his path. Armed with his trademarked and patented button hook cut, he made standing out look simple amid a star studded PoNY offensive line. Even in times when the PoNY offense seemed to struggle, it was Little who found the flow again and got his team back on track towards the end zone. The Georgia Jojah product seemed to be the do-it-all man for PoNY this year and capped off his season with a tremendous showing at Nationals. You’ve got to think when opposing coaches asked their D-lines if everyone liked their matchups, those with the Little assignment were no doubt given pause.
At this point, Kocher is making a serious case to be considered among the best all time, but that’s an argument for another day. ↩
De Marrée was required to sit out the first half of Machine’s semifinal when he earned a second yellow card in their quarterfinal. ↩
Little sustained a broken arm in PoNY’s 2023 quarterfinal loss against Ring of Fire. ↩
