September 9, 2025
By Evan Lepler
It’s been just over two weeks since the Boston Glory held off Minnesota’s fourth-quarter charge to win their first UFA title, and I’ve spent much of this time contemplating the myriad of different dynamics that made 2025 Championship Weekend so special. Between the setting, the atmosphere, the teams, the suspense, the subplots, and the weather, it’s hard to fathom a better set of circumstances to cap a thrilling season of frisbee.
For perspective, this was my 11th Championship Weekend. I’ve had the privilege and pleasure of broadcasting the UFA semis and finals at every marquee event since 2014, and each year creates new and lasting memories, on and off the field. There are always poignant stories, epic highlights, and iconic moments, but the busy weekend also usually includes some slower sequences.
To the bigger point, I’m not sure those brief blips existed this year.
Salt Lake-Boston was a banger from start to finish. Same for Atlanta-Minnesota in the second semifinal. And the title game featured the perfect mix of Boston brilliance and Minnesota magic.
Across all three games, the outcome, with five minutes remaining, was still very much in doubt. Between the combination of rule changes that were meant to foster more dramatic transfers of momentum and the fact that teams have generally gotten smarter about creating disruptions defensively, there’s been less stability and more chaos late in tight games all season long.
There’s also the tension of a topic that we probably don’t spend enough time on: nerves. It’s an intangible energy that can’t be counted or quantified, but definitely a burden for every player to encounter in their own way. Handling one’s own nerves in the midst of pressure is often so much tougher than surviving a certain sideline double-team trap or another creative ploy that’s implemented by the opponent.
We saw plenty of examples of this in big spots throughout the weekend, a tribute to both the magnitude of the moment and the atmospheric pressure that everyone felt. Undoubtedly, both of these were massively amplified by the incredible crowd.
Fans of all four teams migrated to Madison, bringing energy and intensity in buckets. Minnesota fans, in particular, with their illuminated gear and electrifying passion, shifted the paradigm for traveling enthusiasm. They were not simply present to support their team; they were poised to impact the result on the field with their overwhelming aura.
And let’s not forget all the local Radicals fans, many of whom actively rooted against their border rival from the Twin Cities. So many of these frisbee lifers were present when Madison hoisted the trophy in that stadium back in 2018; they understand the challenges involved in pursuit of that ultimate glory, a dynamic that brought additional flavor to the scintillating scene at Breese Stevens Field.
All of these factors, along with the gorgeous weather and the perfect setting, made the entire Championship Weekend experience hit different. It was the culmination of the UFA’s most competitive season, with more contenders than ever feeling like they could compete for the crown.
By the end of the event, it was a breathtaking Boston squad that took the title, anchored by a pair of MVP talents. The rising international superstar Tobe Decraene, who just turned 22 in June, set a new Championship Weekend record with 16 assists. And Jeff Babbitt, a familiar face who’s potentially on his way to becoming the league’s greatest all-time winner, became just the second individual in UFA history to earn his fourth championship.
Here’s a look at several significant storylines coming away from Championship Weekend, starting with the burgeoning historical battle that will likely become the undercurrent of many upcoming seasons.
Beau and Babbitt
The great Beau Kittredge was 31 years and nine months old when he made his UFA debut on April 12, 2014. In six seasons, he competed in 80 games, winning five championships with four different franchises.
Meanwhile, Jeff Babbitt was 31 years and five months old when he won his fourth UFA title on August 23, 2025. He just finished his ninth season in the Association, in which he’s played in 122 games.
Just like Kittredge, Babbitt is a two-time MVP whose career has been marked by postseason success. The Glory’s all-time leader in blocks—a feat he’s achieved while playing in just two of the organization’s five UFA seasons—has a 16-4 career record in the playoffs. That’s not quite the same as Kittredge’s astonishing resume, consisting of 17 victories in 18 postseason games, but it’s in the neighborhood. If Babbitt can stay healthy, it’s relatively easy to envision him matching or even surpassing Kittredge in the championship count.
Since 2014, there’s only been one Championship Weekend—2024 in Salt Lake City—that did not include either Beau Kittredge, Jeff Babbitt, or both of them. (They intersected for two years with the New York Empire in 2018 and 2019.)
As of today, Beau is still the greatest winner in UFA history. But Babbitt is seemingly closing in, with plenty of good years still ahead.
Foreign Phenoms
The prospect of international talent joining the UFA is not new, but the growth we’ve seen in this department over the past decade is a fantastic trend. As the clock wound down and the buzzer sounded a couple Saturdays ago at Breese Stevens Field, there was no doubt that Tobe Decraene would be the Championship Weekend MVP. Similarly, it’s pretty clear that both Decraene and his Belgian counterpart Daan De Marrée will be named as members of the prestigious First Team All-UFA squad when that honor is announced later this month.
Of course, the impact from foreign frisbee talent extends far beyond this Belgium duo. Italy’s Sebastian Rossi also became a UFA champion with the Glory in his first season in the league. Just over a year ago, DC’s Elliot Bonnet and Seattle’s Aaron Wolf, from France and Germany, respectively, were critically important players for a pair of division winners.
The Montreal Royal and Toronto Rush have been two of the leaders in recruiting top players from overseas, with individuals like Quentin Bonnaud, Benjamin Oort, and Akifumi Muraoka quickly becoming huge contributors. The Rush doubled down on their international presence in 2025, bringing aboard a half-dozen European standouts for their UFA debuts.
And over the past several seasons across the entire league, more and more teams have realized that elite international talent can dramatically boost their rosters. Overall, it’s truly mind-boggling how many of these individuals have arrived simply looking to find a role, then suddenly blossomed into a superstar faster than anyone might have expected.
In the NBA, the last seven MVP awards have been won by players born outside the United States. Ultimate frisbee, like basketball, was invented in the U.S., but the game has clearly gone global, and it’s a beautiful thing.
Dominant Youth
Another promising development—though not necessarily a new one—is the continued emergence of young ultimate players showing that they can contribute and excel in the biggest games. At Championship Weekend, the Boston Glory and Salt Lake Shred both had 10 players among their active 20 who were 25 years old or younger. The Minnesota Wind Chill had eight guys who fit this description, and the Atlanta Hustle, while certainly being a slightly older, more experienced squad, still had four.
That’s 32 players, many of whom are still in their early 20s—or in the case of Minnesota’s Thomas Shope and Salt Lake’s Nate De Morgan, are still teenagers—who head into the second half of the decade with meaningful semifinals experience. Shope has already been in seven UFA playoff games, and he doesn’t even turn 20 until next April.
There are still plenty of veterans in pursuit of their own career milestones, but the next generation is breathing down their necks and raising the bar for all involved. For any player that’s a tad too complacent, someone young and hungry is surely ready to swoop in and steal their spot.
Missed Opportunities
While the Atlanta Hustle can joyously reminisce about the franchise’s first South Division title, the team’s big picture mission still carries the disappointing pangs of opportunities lost. And unlike the other three teams that competed at 2025 Championship Weekend, the core of this club is considerably older. In fact, nine of the 20 that suited up for the semifinal against the Wind Chill are already in their 30s.
The Hustle have long been a team of grinders, from star handler Austin Taylor, who’s played a franchise-record 110 games, to Christian Olsen, who’s one of the last remaining members from Atlanta’s inaugural 2015 squad and the only one who competed at Champ Weekend; Trenton Spinks, who played three games this season, also finished a full decade with the Hustle in 2025. Meanwhile, Florida transplants like Bradley Seuntjens, Jeremy Langdon, and Michael Fairley have played a combined 221 games in the league, and Cameron Brock holds the UFA record in that department, with 169 games played since he debuted as an original Indianapolis AlleyCat way back in 2012. If not for missing an entire year with a brutal achilles injury, 35-year-old Jakeem Polk would have passed the 100-game plateau this past season too.
All of this is context to paint the picture about how long many of these Hustle players have been working toward the ultimate goal of winning a championship. Aside from Langdon, who was a part of the inaugural Dallas title team in 2016, no other Hustle player who saw the field in Madison has previously had the pleasure of reaching the top of the UFA mountain.
Atlanta’s semifinal setback against Minnesota, while different in various ways, still mirrored the disappointments of the Hustle’s other missed opportunities spread out over the past five seasons. Every year, the team’s leadership has always regrouped and found a way to keep bringing the fire, and there’s every reason to believe that this will remain true heading into 2026. And if/when the team can finally get to the top, all of the historic heartbreak will only make the earned euphoria that much sweeter.
Overall, the Hustle’s 2025 season, as I’ve previously written, was far from a failure. But in the present, it’s just another offseason where the lingering disappointment, even if it’s sometimes shielded by some significant steps forward, remains excruciating and unavoidable.
The Shred in the Red
When you look at Salt Lake’s team history page, the consistency is pretty staggering.
In their four regular seasons, the Shred have gone 11-1 or 10-2 every year. They are 42-6 all-time in the regular season, a winning percentage of .875. The other top teams in this era—Atlanta, DC, Minnesota, and New York—pale in comparison to the Shred’s average of 1.5 losses per season. (If you were wondering, the Empire are second with just nine losses in the last four regular seasons, while the Hustle and Wind Chill each have 11 and the Breeze have 12.)
But when you dig a little bit deeper, there’s also an alarming reality. Including the playoffs, the Shred have gone 43-5 all-time against the West. And they are just 3-5 all-time against teams from other divisions.
This is not meant to be a section that’s disrespectful to the West, as I do continue to believe that this quadrant features several quality teams. At the same time, as the calendar flips to 2026, it will soon be eight years since we last witnessed a West Division team win a game in regulation at Championship Weekend.
Obviously, that’s pretty specific and nit-picky. But it’s also true.
The San Francisco FlameThrowers won the title in 2017. In 2018, Los Angeles lost in the semis. Same story for San Diego in 2019 and 2021, Colorado in 2022, Seattle in 2024, and Salt Lake in 2025. The lone exception to this string of semifinal shortfalls came in 2023, when Joel Clutton’s miraculous deflection at the buzzer helped the Shred sneak past Minnesota.
Overall, the last seven West Division losses at Championship Weekend have been by margins of 4, 4, 7, 5, 4, 5, and 5. In other words, it’s hard to make the case that these were games that could’ve gone either way.
Now, among these specific seven results, no team was closer or more competitive with their championship-caliber opponent than the 2025 Shred against Boston. The Shred endured just a dozen turnovers and held the disc with a chance to tie the game in the fourth quarter. Everyone on Boston understood that they were fortunate to close the game with a 3-0 run to win by the deceptively comfortable score of 21-17.
In other words, it’s fair to say that the Shred are closer to the league’s best than they have ever been. But there’s still a gap, and it’s a chasm that’s existed now for three-quarters of a decade between the West and the rest.
