Whether layout blocks or shutdown defense, these players made life miserable for opposing offenses
November 14, 2024 by Edward Stephens, Alex Rubin and Matt Fazzalaro in Awards with 0 comments
Ultiworld is pleased to announce our annual Club Awards, starting with the First Team All-Club 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 awards continue with the Defensive Player of the Year, recognizing the individual, and two runners-up, who we felt were the top defensive performers this club season. Whether through generating blocks, shutting down options, helping out teammates, or all of the above, these defenders stood out doing the tough work that too often go unrecognized.
Player of the Year Award
All-Club First Team
All-Club Second Team
Offensive Player of the Year Award
Defensive Player of the Year Award
Breakout Player of the Year Award
Coach(es) of the Year Award
Club Awards Voting Breakdown
Snubs and Superlatives
2024 Men’s Division Defensive Player of the Year
Daniel Lee (Portland Rhino Slam!)
There’s plenty of praise to be heaped upon Portland Rhino Slam! for their stunning stampede to the 2024 title, but for all of the attention given to the “small ball is dead” offense, it’s impossible to win a club final 15-6 without some stellar defensive play.
On the road leading up to the championship and in the biggest moments, Daniel Lee stopped whatever was in front of him. Lee led the best D-line in the division in blocks, two of which came against OPotY Jonny Malks and 2024 D-I PotY Jacques Nissen in Rhino’s quarterfinal game that jump-started their bracket run. Known for years as a downfield block getter, Lee’s best moments at Nationals might have been his containment of the Truck Stop handler weave and his collaboration with Dylan Freechild and Vinh Bui to produce complex switches. As offenses over the years learned to avoid throwing to Lee’s matchup, Rhino Slam! ideated a defense that still played to his strengths and let him make game-changing plays in unconventional ways.
It is not enough anymore for defenders to be a nose-to-the-ground grinder and out-athlete opponents; defenders in the modern game need to be adaptable, intelligent, quick-thinking, and communicative. Lee has grown his game to the point where all of that is true about him, and still to be the best defender in the game, you might just have to be Daniel Lee.
– Alex Rubin
First Runner-up
David Sealand (Portland Rhino Slam!)
First of all, the only reason David Sealand did not win this award is because his teammate is Daniel Lee. The two of them formed the backbone of a defensive unit that stymied Truck Stop, flustered Machine, and obliterated PoNY in the bracket. Fittingly, they combined for every first-place vote in our set of ballots,1 and the margin between them after the full tally was so tiny that we essentially crown them co-Defensive Players of the Year.
Having got that out of the way, a few words on Sealand alone. He was agile, versatile, and explosive – traits common to virtually all of the best defenders in any given year, but especially useful to describe the way Sealand won his matchups in 2024. He used his length brilliantly to wreak havoc on handlers and deep threats alike. He seemingly always gave himself a line to reach the disc cleanly when it was within reach. No one in the country – not even Lee – showed more control over a horizontal layout, from timing to mid-air body contortions to the final hand positioning, than Sealand. The upshot of those qualities is that he was (as in other recent seasons, but even more so in 2024) the consummate stopper.
– Edward Stephens
Second Runner-up
Michael Ing (San Francisco Revolver)
This season, Michael Ing reminded all of us there is more than one Ing dominating club ultimate. The way the elder Ing plays defense is the perfect combination of physicality, intelligence, and working in sync with his teammates. If Ing were a superhero, his power would be teleportation. He always orbited into the right spot: as soon as his matchup made a decision, there he was. Ing was a pivotal part of the Revolver D-line that took pool play by storm and mounted a serious challenge to PoNY in semis. While Ing is being commended here for his defensive prowess, let’s not neglect to mention that he was darn good after the turn, as well.
– Matt Fazzalaro
Four for Lee, three for Sealand. ↩
