Mike Payne

Mike Payne20131019-_DSC2277

Date of birth: 1974

Place of birth: Stanford

Current city of residence: Burlingame

Occupation: Digital Health Executive at Omada Health

College team(s): Stanford Bloodthirsty 1993-1998

Former teams:

  • Player: Saucy Jack (1996-1997), Jam (1998-2005), Revolver (2006-2010)
  • Coach: Stanford (2001-2003, 2007)

Revolver years: 2006-2010

Accolades: After helping form other club teams in the Bay Area (Saucy Jack and Jam), it’s been very gratifying for others such as Mario O’Brien to recognize my contribution to making Revolver both an on-field powerhouse and a well-respected program. I’m proud of the championships I’ve won with Revolver (1 Nationals and 1 Worlds as a player/captain, and 1 Nationals as a Coach) but more importantly I’m proud of the environment we’ve created that is churning out great friends who also happen to be great players. Beyond Revolver, I’m most proud of Coaching the Stanford Men’s team to a National Championship in 2002, a team that some consider the best college team of all time.

How I came to join Revolver: Jam went through a big shift in personnel in 2006 and I didn’t make the squad. At the same time, several of my former teammates and guys I had Coached at Stanford were starting to form a new team, and they asked me to be a part of it. Their focus on developing young talent and a team environment where everyone plays their role was really inspiring for me. I might have retired that year, but I’m really glad I didn’t becuase what we have done together in the Revolver program has been good for the men in the program, good for Bay Area Ultimate, and good for Ultimate as a whole.

Funniest moment or joke on Revolver: Beau Kittredge

Favorite game or tournament moment on Revolver: In 2006, watching Mark Sherwood catch the goal going up-line to send us to Nationals. The look of joy on the faces of my teammates at that moment cannot be exceeded, even by several National and World Championships. That moment proved the power of the Revolver model to us, and provided the basis for the great years to come.

Favorite game or tournament moment outside of Revolver: Every time we play credit card roulette, which is often, and a rookie loses…which is often. Murphy’s Law is alive and well on Revolver. Special mention to Louis Eisenberg, whose hypothesis of ‘regression to the mean’ was not proven, for him. Louis probably lost over 50% of the roulettes he played – scary.

Favorite Ultimate player(s) in formative years: This goes back a ways. Andrei Straumanis was a force for Stanford Ultimate in the mid-90’s and taught me a great deal. I also learned a lot from working with my co-leaders at Stanford, Jim Schoettler and Randy Hulett. At the Club level I learned a lot about the team concept from the guys on DoG, and also Furious George (this is interesting because most people would say the dynasty Furious teams were dominated by a few players but it was really the role players on that team that made it work). As far as Club players, I believe Mike Grant is best player in the past 20 years (in the 2000-2002 timeframe), followed closely by Damien Scott (2003-2004) and Dennis Warson (early-mid nineties).