Whether moving the disc or racking up points, these players were the best to do it in 2025
November 18, 2025 by Graham Gerhart, Alex Rubin and Edward Stephens in Awards
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. 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
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
2025 Women’s Division Offensive Player of the Year
Yina Cartagena (BENT)
What else is there to say at this point? Yina Cartagena is a machine. For the last 10 years, across US club, Colombian club, international club, and national team play she has plied her trade on O-lines with dedication and virtually matchless success. Her tools are simple: a pivot, a checked pivot she uses as a fake, a solid forehand with just a hint of OI edge, perceptive eyes, an upline cut, the threat of an upline cut. Oh but what a fantastical world she builds with them.
There was no end to the combinations Cartagena employed to carve up opposing defenses like so much roast chicken. Her pivot to the backhand side opened up a yawning canyon in which to deposit an inside flick. A simple strike cut – as an aside, is there anyone in all of ultimate who takes smarter angles to get the disc in power position? – transformed with peerless grace into an easy away shot. Or she would take one step ahead of the thrower, throwing her matchup miles toward the sideline in an attempt to stop it, and calmly change direction to open up a reset-and-swing one-two that was so often catastrophic.
Her output as a volume thrower (perhaps only matched by Kaela Helton, just behind her on this list) was simply massive. She led BENT in assists by leaps and bounds (21 to Amy Zhou’s 12) and, though we don’t have the data, no doubt eclipsed her teammates in touches. Cartagena’s reliable brilliance was the centerpiece of a BENT effort that came within a single point of reaching semis. The wildest part of all isn’t just that Cartagena has been so good for song long, it’s that her ascension these past few years – from second runner-up, to runner-up, to winning OPotY outright – indicates she’s still getting stronger by the year.
– Edward Stephens
First Runner-up
Kaela Helton (Flipside)
The many iterations of Kaela Helton could fill their own book, but the latest one is perhaps her most impressive. It’s not just that she was the statistical leader at Nationals this year, it’s that her usage rate hasn’t slowed her down. Drawing the other team’s best defender doesn’t seem to, either. In a time when we’re describing her peers as ‘crafty’, ‘wily’, and ‘seasoned,’ Helton continues to transcend the common tropes of a veteran player and remains an athletic marvel, all while continuing to improve her throwing prowess and field IQ.
What Helton gives to an offense is hard to quantify, largely because of her ability to fit any role that the team needs. Short of a center handler? Helton can do that. Need an initiating cutter? Helton’s got it covered. Deep threat to extend the field? Done. She’s been everything Flipside could have asked for this year, and there’s no reason to think she can’t keep doing it at the highest level for many more years to come. At this point in her career, Helton has beaten Father Time so many times that he might retire before she does.
– Graham Gerhart
Second Runner-up
Claire Trop (Scandal)
Collectively on this site, we’ve written so much about Claire Trop and it still feels like we have not fully described her greatness. She buzzes around the field, seemingly always in the play and always available to get Scandal into a better position. Her tireless cutting, precise throwing, and profound sense for doing the right thing on the field not only stand out while watching Scandal play, but also put her teammates in better positions to succeed themselves. Even as she ascends towards the tippy-top of our sport, Trop continues to improve, adding more nuanced facets to her game and sharpening the skills that have made her into one of the best players in the world today.
– Alex Rubin
