Octavia "Opi" Payne is a four-time national champion, a world champion, and a World Games gold medalist. In this episode of Sideline Talk, Opi talks about her roots in the game at the University of Pennsylvania and how she's long thrived on an underdog mentality, despite her greatness over the last decade.
We talk about her influences, emerging as a star player, playing under the coaching of both Alex Ghesquiere and Matty Tsang, and transitioning from a high-volume offensive player on Washington DC Scandal and Denver Molly Brown to a far more structured D-line role with San Francisco Fury.
Opi also discusses her thoughts on ultimate's reckoning with race and what she sees as her future in the sport. It's a wide-ranging conversation and the longest-ever episode of Sideline Talk!
Nasser M'Bae Vogel has won national championships in four different countries, and EUCF titles with two different teams. He has played in the USAU club final, but came one game short of winning that with Boston Ironside. He talks about his long, diverse career in the sport and speaks about the bl...
Long-time University of Oregon head coach Jay Janin sits down for an episode of Sideline Talk to discuss his time as a coach, his origins in the sport in the late '70s, his philosophy about building a competitive team, and managing players at different levels of the sport. Janin talks about his o...
Oregon Downpour has been the surprise of the tournament, riding the incredible play of Elsa Weybright into the semifinal. Lining up against them is a Swarm team continuing a developing tradition of strong youth teams coming out of Utah.
