A quick message to Sara Rydzik, because, without her, this list would not exist. Thank you for the motivation and constant reminders that my writing has worth. Thanks for your friendship.
The not as bad as 2024, but still very late edition of the 2025 Kubb On All-American team is here! Changes in the process for how the 2026 team will be selected are happening behind the scenes. You deserve better and players deserve to know shortly after the season ends who made the All-American team. Hopefully, with these changes, the list will be published each year around Thanksgiving.
If you are a new reader and thinking, “What’s a Kubb All-American?” Here’s your quick reminder: A traditional All-American designation is an annual honor bestowed upon amateur athletes playing in National Collegiate Athletics Association sports who were deemed to have the best season at their respective positions. These lists are picked by veteran sports writers from many national publications. In 2021, I started talking about the concept of developing an All-American team for kubb. At the end of that season, I picked one full team that I designated as All-Americans. That first season it totaled eight players—two blasters, two 8 meters, two utility players, and two inkasters.
In 2023, I expanded the All-American list to two teams—a first team and second team. This is very similar to the way major publications do their lists. On a kubb pitch, you typically have two teams battling against each other, so I decided to follow ideology by selecting two kubb teams worth of players.
The makeup of both teams is as follows:
- Two blasters
- Two utility players
- Two 8 meter specialists
- One inkaster
The blaster and 8 meter positions are fairly obvious to their roles, but why choose “utility” players? The folks that go in the middle must be good at everything. They must be able to step in and blast when necessary, and they must be able to get the singles and the clean-ups. Then you typically ask those middle players to go after 8 meters. Those utility players have to be the most well rounded players on the field… this year I think I found the perfect players to step into the role of whatever best helps the team. The chosen inkaster of the first team is considered by me to be the Basta Inkastare (Best Thrower of the Blocks) for 2025. This allows me to highlight up to 14 individuals over the first and second teams. I do reserve the right to decide that a player could be so dominant that they were selected to a position and Basta Inkastare in the same season.
To qualify and be selected to the All-American teams, you must have at least three podium finishes in that kubb season (Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2025). That includes first, second, or third place finishes. Sorry to those that finish fourth. I do not discriminate on how you get those three podiums as tournaments of any size that are held anywhere in the world count. I also count kubb leagues, 1v1s, scrambles, and virtual kubb leagues. I feel this is fair to everyone as there are players that are some of the best players you can find in the world but may not play in very many tournaments throughout the year. If you were judging based on pure skills, they would make the team every year. We want a mix of rewarding the best skill players in America, but also rewarding those that had a very strong season.
Now, on to the picks! One disclaimer: stats have been computed for me by Sara as the 2025 year went on, and while she is much better than me at this, it is possible there could be a mistake. Leave a comment or send a message and it’ll get updated.
First Team Kubb All-Americans
Blaster: Joe Dekan (Eau Claire, WI)
Total Podiums: 9
Season Highlights:
- First: (2) WHYS Festival, Kubb on a Stick
- Second: (4) Ice Kubb at Winter Storm, Stoughton, Kubbing to Kick Cancer, Beloit Kubb Open
- Third: (3) Loppet, ECKL (Winter), Wisconsin State
All-American Selections: (4) 2022-25 First Team Selections
Blaster: Cody Glorioso (Hartford, WI)
Total Podiums: 17
Season Highlights:
- First: (9) Lake Superior, Loppet, Stoughton, Illinois, VKL (Spring), ECKL Spring, Dallas Oktoberfest, East Coast Kubb Championship, and Orlando Open
- Second: (4) Sand Games, Midwest Kubb Championship, and Northwoods
- Third: (4) Chetek, The Pre, Madison Kubb League, KMK (Fall)
All-American Selections: (4) 2022-25 First Team Selections*
*2023 National Player of the Year Runner-Up
Utility: Scott Taylor (Eau Claire, WI)
Total Podiums: 8
Season Highlights:
- First: (5) Midwest Kubb Championship, Lake Superior Ice Festival, Loppet, ECKL (Spring Tournament), and Lindsborg Midsummer Festival.
- Second: (0)
- Third: (3) Stoughton, Chetek, and The Pre
All-American Selections: First time selection
Utlity: Gregg Jochimsen (Eau Claire, WI)
Total Podiums: 7
Season Highlights:
- First: (5) U.S. National Kubb Championship, Japan Kubb Open, ECKL (Fall), ECKL (Winter), ECKL (Spring Tournament),
- Second: (0)
- Third: (2) Loppet and Spring Has Sprung
All-American Selections: (4) 2022-25 First Team Selections*
*2022 National Player of the Year Runner-Up
8-Meter: Spencer Ollmann (Eau Claire, WI)
Total Podiums: 13
Season Highlights:
- First: (8) Lake Superior Ice Festival, Loppet, Stoughton, ECKL (Spring), Sand Games, Dallas Oktoberfest, Orlando Open, Eau Claire Scrambler
- Second: (1) Ice Games
- Third: (4) U.S. 1v1, Chetek, The Pre, and Grass Games
All-American Selections: (3) 2023-25 First Team Selections
8-Meter: John Ellingsen (Eau Claire, WI)
Total Podiums: 11
Season Highlights:
- First: (3) WHYS Festival, Kubb on a Stick, and Grass Games.
- Second: (3) Stoughton, Kubbing to Kick Cancer, and Beloit Kubb Open.
- Third: (5) Lake Superior Ice Festival, Loppet, Ice Games, ECKL (Winter), and Wisconsin State.
All-American Selections: (2) 2024 Second Team and 2025 First Team Selections
Bästa Inkastare: Trevor Bailey (Bloomington, MN)
Total Podiums: 17
Season Highlights:
- First: (8) Ice Kubb at Winter Storm Sports, WI State, Kubbing to Kick Cancer, Sand Games, The Pre, Northwoods, East Coast Kubb Championship, and World 1v1
- Second: (7) U.S. National Kubb Championship, Lake Superior, Ice Games, Loppet, Spring Has Sprung, U.S. 1v1, and Kubb on a Stick
- Third: (2) Grass Games and Dallas Oktoberfest
All-American Selections: (3) 2023-25 First Team Selections*
*2024 National Player of the Year
Second Team Kubb All-Americans
Blaster: Zach Oman (Chaska, MN)
Total Podiums: 5
Season Highlights:
- First: (2) U.S. National 1v1 and The Pre
- Second: (3) World 1v1, Twin Cities (Spring), Twin Cities (Summer)
- Third: (0)
All-American Selections: (2) 2024 First Team and 2025 Second Team
Blaster: Luke Peikert (Bloomington, MN)
Total Podiums: 5
Season Highlights:
- First: (3) Wisconsin State, Kubbing to Kick Cancer, and The Pre
- Second: (2) U.S. National Kubb Championship and Kubb on a Stick
- Third: (0)
All American Selections: (2) 2024 and 2025 Second Team Selections
Utility: Corey Shay (Eau Claire, WI)
Total Podiums: 5
Season Highlights:
- First: (3) U.S. National Kubb Championship, ECKL (Fall), ECKL (Winter)
- Second: (0)
- Third: (2) Spring Has Sprung, ECKL (Summer)
All-American Selections: First Time Selection
Utility: Jason “JP” Larson (St. Louis Park, MN)
Total Podiums: 5
Season Highlights:
- First:(0) None
- Second (4) U.S. National Kubb Championship, Loppet, Spring Has Sprung, and Kubb on a Stick.
- Third: (1) Dallas Oktoberfest
All-American Selections: (3) 2023 and 2025 Second Team, 2024 First Team Selections
8-Meter: Bryce Pecore (Fall River, WI)
Total Podiums: 6
Season Highlights:
- First: (2) Ice Games and Dallas Oktoberfest
- Second: (3) Keystone Kubb Virtual League (Spring), Sand Games, and Grass Games (3)
- Thirrd: (1) Madison Kubb League (Summer)
All-American Selections: First Time Selection
8-Meter: Dan Corey (Raleigh, NC)
Total Podiums: 5
Season Highlights:
- First: (2) Skuffle for the Shovel and Maryland Kubb Championship
- Second: (1) North Carolina Kubb Championship
- Third: (2) Midwest Kubb Championship and Orlando Open
All-American Selections: (2) 2024 and 2025 Second Team Selections
Inkastare: Adam Holtz (Chetek, WI)
Total Podiums: 7
Season Highlights:
- First: (2) Illinois Kubb Championship and Midwest Kubb Championship
- Second: (4)Eau Claire Kubb (June), The Pre, Northwoods, and Dallas Oktoberfest
- Third: (1) ECKL (Fall)
All-American Selections: (5) 2024 and 2025 Second Team, 2021-23 First Team Selections*
*2023 National Player of the Year, 2022 National Player of the Year, 2021 National Player of the Year Runner-UP
2025 National Kubb Player of the Year
Trevor Bailey (Bloomington, MN)
Trevor was tied with Cody with the most top-three finishes in 2025, each with 17. With this selection, he became the second two-time and back-to-back National Player of the Year. A feat that matches Adam Holtz when he was back-to-back in 2022 and 2023. In our five years of selecting the National Player of the Year, we have only had three winners (Ethan Forney, Adam Holtz, and Trevor Bailey).
While tied in podium count, Trevor overtook Cody, in the mind of the judge, with impressive victories in majors at Wisconsin State, Kubbing to Kick Cancer, The Pre, and the World 1v1. The icing on the cake was a highly impressive second place finish in the U.S. National Kubb Championship.
Runners-Up: Cody Glorioso (17 podiums) and Spencer Ollmann (13 podiums)
2025 Kubb Team of the Year
Kubb Reapers
Cody Glorioso, Spencer Ollmann, Scott Taylor
This year, I decided to select a Team of the Year. Thanks to Sara’s compiling, sorting, and organizing data over the year, it was much simpler to look at player and team data this year. In my mind, this was a two horse race between the Reapers and Flux. Both teams would finish 2025 with seven podium finishes. However, the Kubb Reapers would finish the year with five gold and two bronze medals. Flux would finish the year with one gold, three silvers, and three bronzes.
Runner-Up: Flux Capacitors
1 Comment
Great list. Congratulations to those that made it!