We would like to welcome our new paid coaches, Cynthia Patiño, Juan Andrade, Trevor Pennypacker, Doug Speidel, and Tyler Poole.
Cynthia is a student at San Jose State University, pursuing her B.A in Child and Adolescent Development with a minor in Chicano Chicana Studies. She transferred from FT Monterey where she was a golf and life skill coach and a past First Tee participant.
Juan is a Behavioral Technician for the Sunnyvale School District. He also was an outstanding community partner and delivered our outreach golf and life skill program at Ellis Elementary for 2 years.
Trevor is a Senior Integration Engineer at Tesla Motors and has years of experience running junior golf camps and US Kids Golf tournaments.
Doug worked as a Senior IT Director for Seagate Technology and was a volunteer coach with us in 2019. He comes from a family of teachers and has a daughter who is also a teacher.
Tyler is a Horticulturist and joined our team as a volunteer earlier in the year. He also has experience teaching and refereeing kids in basketball, soccer, and softball.
They join a coaching team of over 23 instructors and over 70 volunteer coaches. Not only do our coaches allow for more participants to take the program, but more importantly they are responsible for establishing a strong relational climate and an engaging learning environment for our participants. According to our most recent survey,
- 98% of our participants felt their coaches cared about them
- 98% said their coaches kept them engaged and active
- 94% said their coaches improved their life skills
- 97% said their coaches improved their golf skills
First Tee – Silicon Valley coaches go through 4 trainings within the year where we practice our golf and life skill curriculum, develop strategies for activity-based learning and mix in developmental relationship tools from the Search Institute and Positive Coaching Alliance.
“We are excited and grateful to have all 5 as FTSV coaches,” says Program Director, Chris Moreno-Hunt. “They exude positivity, demonstrate care for their participants, and each bring their unique skills sets to the team and to their classes.”
Making a difference is best done as a team, and we are fortunate to have a strong and growing team of coaches leading the way.
Welcome, Cynthia, Juan, Trevor, Doug, and Tyler!
Interested in getting started as a coach:
If you are interested in joining our growing team, learning new skills, and making a difference please:
- Visit our volunteer page and click on the volunteer form.
- Contact Julie Donnellan at 408-508-4882 or [email protected] for volunteering
- Contact Chris Moreno-Hunt at 408-508-4884 or [email protected] for paid coaching
- Click here for our volunteer tri-fold for more information
- We are accepting volunteers year-round, but to be able to coach in the next season you will need to complete the on-boarding steps by 2/15 for Spring, and 5/15 for Summer, 8/15 for Fall, and 11/15 for Winter
- Training provided (golf and life skills)
