Whether moving the disc or racking up points, these players were the best to do it in 2024
November 14, 2024 by Edward Stephens and Patrick Stegemoeller in Awards with 0 comments
Ultiworld is pleased to announce our annual Club Awards. 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 Offensive Player of the Year, recognizing the individual, and two runners-up, who we felt had the most impactful and productive seasons helping their teams score. They set up goals, finished off points, and produced yardage at consistently high levels against the top defenders.
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
2024 Men’s Division Offensive Player of the Year
Jonny Malks (Washington DC Truck Stop)
Don’t let Truck Stop’s quarterfinal exit get it twisted: Jonny Malks was the best, most important offensive force in the men’s division in 2024. Stepping up into an even bigger role for Truck’s O-line this season he delivered across the regular season and Nationals, showing an even more complete toolset than in his title-winning 2023 campaign.
He quarterbacked DC’s stupefying offensive performance at the US Open1 and drove the stat line at Nationals, the team leader in both goals and assists. You’re not putting up a team leading double-double (13G/14A) without some serious versatility and command of the offense.
And he did it all while conducting a symphonic offense in which every piece got to shine. His ability to get the disc anywhere on the field, whether into a keyhole between two poaches at a distance of seven feet or into wide open space past the entire defense at a distance of seventy yards, made sure that everyone ate. And his increasingly prominent ability to get himself anywhere he wanted, behind the disc or downfield, allowed him to put his fingerprints on every facet of the offense.
The highest level of ultimate is reserved for players who can make a big impact while still functioning within a team context, players whose greatness both strengthens and transcends the structure around them. Malks found that level on offense in 2024, and it was a treat to see.
– Patrick Stegemoeller
First Runner-up
Sam Little (New York PoNY)
Sam Little didn’t add any new tricks to his bag this season. He was the same frenetic, ground-pounding, slippery, stubborn cutter he’s been for years. The difference in 2024 was he turned everything that already made him great up several notches. He took more initiative, pivoted his throwing angle to wrong-foot the opposing defense more aggressively, turned the corner on a curl cut quicker, motored with even more express-train speed to the open side, and reached even farther ahead of him with his characteristic running claw-catch form. Those upticks in intensity and technique, taken together, added up to an unbelievable performance throughout Nationals. Having him so reliably working the lanes greased the entire PoNY offense all the way to the national final.
– Edward Stephens
Second Runner-up
Chris Kocher (New York PoNY)
2024 represented a new chapter in the illustrious career of Chris Kocher. While he has often been a key offensive asset for PoNY, this season he took on far more responsibility than ever before. Virtually every offensive point worked through him as he switched modes from possession handler to give-and-go specialist to deep thrower to power cutter to finisher. Everything was on the table for him at all times. That high variability – combined with his footspeed and well-honed field sense – made him even harder to guard than in previous years. The stats back it up, as his 15 assists (against only three turnovers) easily paced national finalists PoNY.
– Edward Stephens
Another thing that should remain untwisted despite Nationals results: Truck’s offense getting broken exactly ZERO times through quarters/semis/finals at US Open this year is an alien, wondrous thing. A tale that should be recounted to children, passed down in oral tradition from time immemorial. ↩
