First Tee – Silicon Valley is planning to embark on an ambitious campaign to expand program access for kids and increase the impact of our work. As we look to launch this effort, we are eager to hear from supporters like you.
Thank you for taking a quick, anonymous survey to help us better understand our community?CLICK HEREto take the survey by January 6, 2023. Your responses will provide important insight as we build this exciting new fundraising campaign that will allow us to grow our impact.
We have retained Aperio Philanthropy to conduct a study to assess our current strategies and offer recommendations on the feasibility of a new comprehensive campaign to fund our future.
Our work has never been more meaningful in our communities. Thank you for your support and for sharing your insights with the Aperio team.
As you consider your year-end giving, we are excited to share an amazing opportunity for First Tee — Silicon Valley and our community. We can make every gift go further, reach more kids and teens in our community, and make a bigger impact than ever before thanks to the Charles Schwab Challenge Grant. This program is only possible because of the leadership and commitment of Charles Schwab. He and his company believe in the mission of First Tee and the power of our Chapters to change the game for young people.
This matching grant will help us deliver the life-changing impact of our program to kids from all walks of life. We will be able to expand our reach like never before and connect with kids and families in new and innovative ways. And we will be able to support the next great generation of mentors and leaders.
FTSV’s ability to receive this match will be tied directly to support from existing and new donors! We invite you to accept the challenge to help us make a bigger impact in our community, reaching more kids and teens like Itzel Espino.
Itzel joined FTSV in 2018 and in addition to being a participant, recently joined our coaching team. In her speech to the Invitational attendees, she touched on three themes — her family history, the impact of getting financial assistance for our program, and the life lessons she learned and applied at her internship. You can watch Itzel’s entire speech here.
We appreciate your ongoing support and your commitment to Building Game Changers. Click here to see the different ways you can donate today.
The 2022 Challenge Cup was awarded to La Rinconada Country Club scoring 349 Points – the most of the competing clubs. The real winners are the kids who will receive financial assistance from the $58,250 in donations. This support helps us to create a sense of belonging for all kids – no matter what walk of life. The 131 participating club members will be supporting 230 deserving youth. If you want to get a sense for the impact, please watch this video.
The 4th Annual Challenge Cup was an inclusive and friendly challenge between golf clubs benefiting First Tee – Silicon Valley (FTSV) to help us grow the game of golf while building game changers in our community. It was an opportunity for golf clubs to demonstrate their philanthropic spirit of giving back to a non-profit closely associated with their favorite past time. This year we had 2 Golf Club head-to-head challenge matchups competing for the Challenge Cup on Friday, December 2nd. It was a great day of sunshine and no rain with just a little frost delay.
The final points tally was: La Rinconada 425 points vs. Almaden 440 points and Sharon Heights 341 points vs. Menlo 340 points. The club with highest overall score among ALL clubs was declared winner of the 4th Annual Challenge Cup Perpetual Trophy! Congratulations to La Rinconada Country Club!
All teams were encouraged to include men, women and seniors in their team tally. Each participant made a donation to benefit the FTSV. The format was a Point Par Scoring with 100% of Handicap — Net Par 1 point, Net Birdie 2 points, Net Eagle 3 points, and Net Albatross 4 points. The aggregate of top 24 scores from each club determined their team score. The team scores were compared to rival club to determine each match up club winner. Special thanks to all the Club Pros for assisting with coordination, promotion and scoring.
If your golf club wants to be a part of the 5th Annual Challenge Cup or create a fundraiser benefitting FTSV, Contact Development Director, Judy Dixon Deaton to get started 408-508-4881 –[email protected].
Making an impact means caring for others and acting on that care. Our coach, Juan Andrade displays both with the work he does as a FTSV Coach, and what he does away from FTSV.
Juan is a Behavioral Technician for the Sunnyvale School District. There he is responsible for assisting individual students in developing skills which lead them to join the mainstream educational environment. He is also responsible for delivering discrete trial therapy based on the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis to individual students. To be successful in that position requires empathy, understanding, patience, and care. All qualities that we covet in a coach and aim to reinforce in our participants.
Before becoming a Behavioral Technician, Juan applied his excellent coaching and people skills as a Playworks coach, and as an After-School Director for Ellis Elementary.
At Ellis Elementary, he was our most active and engaged community partner, delivering the FTSV community program at the school 4-5 times per week, every week.
In the Fall of 2022, Juan began his first season as a coach in our 8-week golf course program. He immediately connected with our staff and with the participants he coached. Additionally, he assisted our team of coaches by providing insight and coaching content in our most recent coach training regarding ADHD and Autism.
“I got the privilege to introduce the First Tee program to my students at Ellis where they got the opportunity to pursue golf and elevate their life experiences through golf,” said Juan. “Since moving from implementing the First Tee program at schools to RDP I have really enjoyed watching the enthusiasm and personalities of the participants come out when playing.”
“Coach Juan is the type of coach that makes everyone around him better,” says Program Director, Chris Moreno-Hunt. “He believes in everyone and cares for everyone. We are fortunate to have him part of the team.”
Interested in joining Coach Juan as a FTSV Coach? Please:
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
This winter season 15 FTSV Ace participants will be taking the Ace Volunteer Project, which is one of 4 Ace projects throughout the year — Career, Golf, Education, and Volunteer. The Ace volunteer project has 8 classes and has an outside-of-class application activity. To be an Ace participant requires years of FTSV classes and a successful demonstration of the life skill and golf skill requirements at every FTSV level.
In this winter’s volunteer project, participants will explore giving back opportunities – where to look, why volunteer, what benefits exist through giving back, and how to find opportunities that match their interest. Additionally, they will develop transferable skills and learn what it means to go above and beyond when volunteering. Lastly, they will work on interviewing strategies and professional correspondence. The goal of the project is to apply the skills learned in class, and the skills learned throughout FTSV to real volunteer opportunities and experiences. For that reason, we encourage participants to volunteer at FTSV and at other organizations in addition to taking the 8-week volunteer class.
Over the years we have had a large number of FTSV participants giving back as junior coaches. This year we have 51 FTSV participants coaching classes. Many coach with us 3-4 seasons a year in addition to their other volunteer responsibilities.
Our junior coaches have an impactful role in our program,” says Program Director, Chris Moreno-Hunt. “They deliver and demonstrate FTSV life lessons, and in doing so, reinforce the importance of the life lessons and pave the way for future coaches.”
Volunteering is critical for the health of our organization and plays a vital role in developing the skill-set necessary for career success. We are pleased to have these Ace participants along with our other junior coaches showing the way and giving back.
Congratulations Ace participants for making it to Ace and for choosing to be role models for the younger generation.
To join or learn more about our program visit www.firstteesiliconvalley.org and click on “youth programs,” then “youth classes.”
Please save the dates for First Tee – Silicon Valley fundraising events which are designed for our supporters, both individual and corporate. Attending our events are a great way for all individuals to learn more about us while having fun. They also provide a wonderful opportunity for corporations to sponsor our youth programs while entertaining customers. The money raised from these events and our private Invitational in July represent 55% of our fundraising budget which sustains our youth development program.
at Several Silicon Valley golf courses in early December2023
an inclusive and friendly challenge between golf clubs
Registration opens August 1st
Please contact our Development Director, Judy Dixon Deaton at [email protected] or 408-508-4881, for more information about participating in our events or Sponsorships.
First Tee – Silicon Valley participants Alexandra V and David J joined Calvin Harris (Store Manager) and George Maxe (FTSV President & CEO) over the Thanksgiving weekend to wrap presents for East Palo Alto store customers.
This was a great opportunity for FTSV to pay it forward to others in a spirit of gratitude for all that PGA TOUR Superstore has done for FTSV and our participants. This was our first opportunity to resume this holiday tradition since 2019.
FTSV also expects to resume used golf drives at the store in 2023 on Saturdays 2/11, 5/20, 8/12 and 11/4.
We are excited to double our thanks to PGA TOUR Superstore as they open a new store in Cupertino this Saturday 12/10 at 20600 Homestead Rd, Cupertino, CA 95014.
It’s been 9 years since the PGA store opened in 2013. Since that time, PGA TOUR Superstore has been one of FTSV’s most loyal, generous supporters.
Come watch the best amateur players in the Bay Area compete in a 9-Hole Skins Game on Saturday, November 26th at beautiful Silver Creek Valley Country Club in San Jose and support our FTSV participant Franky Sumcad. Franky stole the show last year by winning 7 skins and raised $5,450 for FTSV.
This year’s Skin Players include:
1) Francesca (Franky) Sumcad / Valley Christian High School, +1.1 Handicap, # 1 player at Valley Christian and 2022 First Tee Participant in Pure Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach
2) Sabrina Igbal – TCU graduate / California CIF High School Champion, NCGA Champion, SF City Champion, CA Women’s Amateur Champion, currently at Q – school for LPGA
3) Katherine Zhu – CAL graduate / Rolex All American, 2-time AJGA Champ, former #1 player at CAL
4) Caleb Shetler – SJSU / Mountain West Freshman of the year, 2021 US Amateur participant at Oakmont, Santa Clara County Champion, Course Record Holder Cinnabar (60) and San Jose Country Club (59)
Players will play an exhibition 9-hole match and if a player wins a “skin” (lowest score on the hole). He/She will be able to choose the First Tee – Silicon Valley or Youth on Course as the recipient of the money raised by spectators and club members.
All proceeds will go to support junior golf benefitting First Tee – Silicon Valley and Youth on Course.
Schedule of Events at Silver Creek Valley Country Club:
Saturday November 26, 2022
Free Admission to all spectators.
12:30pm -1:00 pm Golf Clinic with Junior Honorary Members as demonstrators (watch and learn). Spectator Event Only / there is no hitting or playing except by SKINS PLAYERS
1:00pm – 3:15pm Tee off 1st Hole, Spectators need to walk the course
3:15pm – 5:00pm Awards and Pictures with SKINS PLAYERS
Main Contact: Wayne Kumagai [email protected] for additional information.
Background Info: Franky Sumcad was chosen to be a Silver Creek Valley Country Club Junior Honorary Member in July 2021. SCVCC created this program to support young, prominent, local golfers as well as grow the game of golf. Franky will have access to the club to practice, work at junior clinics, and be a role model for the club’s youth. She has been in the First Tee – Silicon Valley since 2012 and has progressed to our Ace level. Additionally, she has been a volunteer coach for several years coaching our younger participants.
First Tee – Silicon Valley hosted our Pre-Winter Girls Golf Play Day on Saturday, November 12th, 2022 at Rancho del Pueblo. The theme of the event was Halloween.
30 of FTSV’s participants joined us for the biggest Girls Golf event ever! This event provided an opportunity for the girls to socialize with positive female mentors, create lasting friendships, and build their confidence to feel empowered in our community.
The participants played on the golf course with their partner, following an alternate shot format. On the course, they shared stories about their Halloween experience and asked open-ended questions to get to know each other. After the round, they gathered for our costume contest and Halloween games. The event concluded with participants receiving their treats, building strong social connections, and preparing for another wonderful season here at FTSV!
We were excited to have several new girls join this girls golf event. One of the new participants mentioned to us that she had a blast and is “beyond excited for the next event.” We had participants at the event become new friends and even had the older participants express interest in volunteering in the future.
A big thank you to Coaches Gracie, Cynthia, Roni, Katelyn, Audrey, Natalie, Li An, and Alexandra, for supporting and coaching the girls throughout the event. Without them, we would not have been able to have a record turnout. Thank you for being great role models and for inspiring our girls to love the game of golf and feel safe to be themselves. A special thanks to Coach Gabby for leading and coordinating not this just Girls Golf event, but all of our Girls Golf events! Coach Gabby was a participant in our program for seven years, then progressed from a Volunteer Coach, to an Instructor, to a Coordinator. She is a true leader and represents the best of what First Tee is about. We are truly grateful to have Gabby in our program and thank her for what she has done for the girls in Girls Golf.
Thanks to Gabby and the other coaches, First Tee — Silicon Valley Girls Golf participants are already on their way to becoming amazing leaders in our community, and we know that with the mentorship of our FTSV coaches, the girls will have the best go-to team to feel supported and inspired to reach their dreams and goals. If you are interested in making a positive difference and mentoring youth for First Tee & Girls Golf, please visit: firstteesiliconvalley.org/about/volunteer/ and contact us at (408) 508-4880 or [email protected].
JOIN US All FTSV Players in PLAYer Part 2 and above interested in joining, or learning more about our next Girls Golf event on February 25th, 2022 may contact Manny Gallardo at [email protected] or call (408) 508-4887. We will release our next event flyer on our youth opportunity page around mid-January. Stay tuned!
Our first annual College Day Tournament was a rousing success! The initial iteration of this tournament began as the Mentor-Junior Tournament, where we would have participants pair with Stanford University players or our own volunteer coaches. This year both the Stanford AND Santa Clara University Men’s and Women’s teams joined us at Rancho del Pueblo, which allowed every participant to pair with a college player. Additionally, a new component of the tournament was added in the form of a post round reception, educating our students and their families on the college process. At the conclusion of the tournament FTSV participants and families were able to ask questions about college to not just the college golfers, but also to our very own volunteer coaches, Matthew Faulkner (SJSU professor) and Tracy Cone (former ASU golf NCAA champion). At FTSV we coach A.L.R, which stands for ask open-ended questions, listen, and respond, and we also teach the concept of building a go-to-team. Both were prominently being exhibited by all! The conversations continued as pizza was served and awards were given out.
The format for the tournament itself was a two-person alternate shot between a FTSV participant and their college golf partner, with the added twist that each of our participants teed off on even number holes and each college golfer teed off on odd number holes. In addition to our standard Long Drive and Closest to the Pin competitions, we had a Color Wheel minigame between Holes 7 & 8 where participants could potentially save a stroke off their score for hitting the appropriate color on the parachute. A definitive highlight of the day was Hole #1, where each participant rolled a die and based on the result the college golfer had to perform a certain action during their golf shot. We saw shots off of knees, one leg, and even using a nerf bow and arrow instead of a club!
We had some serious golf being played out there and each level was extremely tight score-wise. In fact, each level had a tie for 2nd place! Here are the results for each level of the tournament, and congrats to all of our top finishers:
Birdie:
Andrew Leong (Baylands) & Joey Hayden (SCU Men’s)
Jesse Jang (Gavilan) & Jack Morrison (SCU Men’s)
Vincent Vo (Rancho) & Carson Kawasoe (SCU Men’s)
Eagle:
Kristen Tang (Rancho) & Audrey Brust (SCU Women’s)
David Harrigan (Gavilan) & Michael Thorbjornsen (Stanford Men’s)
Jayden Aguinaga (Rancho) & Karl Vilips (Stanford Men’s)
Ace:
Joey Jang (Gavilan) & Ethan Ng (Stanford Men’s)
Joshua Jang (Gavilan) & Nate Menon (Stanford Men’s)
Norah Yang (Rancho) & Inara Sharma (SCU Women’s)
Special thanks to Santa Clara University coach Andrew Larkin and Stanford team captains Ethan Ng and Nate Menon for helping to put the College Day tournament together! Both teams were fantastic with our participants, helped them feel at ease, and made the tournament an unforgettable experience. Thank you Stanford and Santa Clara players! Also, thank you to our volunteers Matthew Faulkner and Tracy Cone for coming and discussing college-related topics with our participants, as well as our volunteer coaches Alex and Stefan for helping run the tournament! Lastly, thank you to Coach Robby who coordinated and lead the event! We are grateful to have Robby in the program and leading our pre-season tournaments.
Join us!
Our next pre-season tournament is on February 25th. If you are interested in learning more about our opportunities and tournaments, please visit our youth opportunities page, email us at [email protected], or call 408-508-4880. We hope to see you at the next tournament in February!
As the school year is now well underway, so too is First Tee’s Community Program (CP). Between delivering a school-wide First Tee lesson at The Primary School in East Palo Alto, connecting with families at the Parent University event at Alum Rock School District, and conducting trainings for several CP partners, our staff have been enthusiastically facilitating individual site deliveries and strengthening relationships with schools and community organizations. There are currently 12 active CP partners delivering First Tee lessons on-site.
One of our 12 active community partners is Anne Darling Elementary whose after-school program is led by CORAL (Communities Organizing Resources to Advance Learning). Time and time again they have illustrated just how impactful our partnerships can be. Through the efforts of her and her staff, the students of Anne Darling have not only been exposed to the benefits of First Tee – Silicon Valley’s (FTSV) lessons, they have taken those lessons and applied them across a wide area of their schooling. There has been “an increase in self-confidence, teamwork, and excitement from all of our students” says Valerie Sanchez, Site Manager for Anne Darling Elementary. Their team has “noticed an increase in attendance, engagement, and positive behavior” in their students since partnering with FTSV. She attributes this positive change to “their excitement to play” and “engage in the fun lessons that are offered,” and says that this excitement “motivates [the students] to complete all their work.”
At the conclusion of their CP classes, FTSV Program Coordinator, Joe Stuban, organizes a field trip so the participants can take the lessons learned at school and apply them at our nearby golf location, Rancho Del Pueblo Golf Course. At the field trip our team of FTSV coaches delivers a typical FTSV lesson on the driving range and putting green. “These participants bring the energy, show respect, and have a blast,” says FTSV Program Coordinator and Coach, Manny Gallardo. On these field trips students trade out the plastic clubs and tennis balls that they use for the CP program and get to explore real clubs and the real deal.
FTSV encourages and provides opportunities for participants that have taken our CP program and experienced a field trip, to transition into our 8-week golf course program. The combination of the CP program, field trip, and golf course program provides chances for participants like those at Anne Darling, to learn the game of golf, and more importantly apply life lessons that build character.
We are grateful for our community partners and look forward to providing our fun and engaging educational program to more participants in 2023.
If you are interested in our CP outreach program, please click here, or contact us at 408-508-4885. If you are interested in having us attend a community event, please call 408-508-4884.
First Tee – Silicon Valley owes an enormous thank you to SAGA Foundation led by President, David Bartoshuk for their generous $100,000 donation to further develop FTSV programs in the Palo Alto-Redwood City area including at Baylands Golf Links. Their donations to FTSV now total $510,000 over the last five years. The SAGA Foundation assists nonprofits to work smarter, reach further, and have a lasting impact. They are committed to helping FTSV expand dramatically at Baylands for the benefit of Mid-Peninsula youth and the community. David Bartoshuk, President – SAGA Foundation, says, “SAGA Foundation believes critical problems require bold actions through collaboration, open communication, and entrepreneurship. FTSV continues to be a touchstone of what can be accomplished through creative teamwork and the knowledge that together we can make positive, long-term progress.” David and the SAGA Foundation are showing incredible generosity towards and support of FTSV’s future at Baylands Golf Links and in the lives of youth throughout the Mid-Peninsula.” said FTSV President & CEO, George Maxe. “In addition to SAGA Foundation, we are actively partnering with the City of Palo Alto to make significant improvements to Baylands Golf Links so that FTSV can expand our footprint and public golfers can enjoy more practice area amenities.” FTSV is very grateful to SAGA Foundation and looks forward to impacting many more Mid-Peninsula youth at Baylands Golf Links.
