This article originally appeared in the February issue of NCGA Golf Magazine
When administrators put up obstacles for Jaylen Amlani to organize a co-ed golf team at Design Tech High School in Redwood City, he refused to be denied.
By Adam Schupak
Jaylen Amlani was delighted to be admitted to Design Tech High School, a charter school built in 2014 on the Oracle campus in Redwood City. He was selected via a lottery held in February of each year that caps the student body at approximately 550. There was only one problem: the school didn’t have a golf team, the sport he’d fallen in love with as a kid.
“It was super sad, kind of heartbreaking, you know,” he said.
He wasn’t the first to inquire with the athletic director about starting a team but before his first day he was given the same, swift “hard no” response for budgetary reasons. But as a lowly freshman Amlani refused to take no for an answer and through persistence, perseverance – and even a little perspiration – he succeeded in launching one of the only co-ed high school golf teams in the Bay Area.
Amlani’s start in the game was typical. His dad, Ajay, caddied as a teenager to help his family make ends meet and played when he could as a Florida resident for a stint in his early 20s after college, even enjoying a few rounds at TPC Sawgrass. But golf took a backseat as he built his career and settled into married life. That is until Jaylen was born and he envisioned the game as a way to spend quality time together. He began taking Jaylen to the range at age 4 or 5 and enrolling him in junior tournaments at age 8.
“He was a super-quiet kid who when everyone was playing football or soccer on the black top he would be reading Harry Potter books,” said his father, a CEO of a leading global authentication company. “I’d get mad at him. Why aren’t you out there? He’d say, ‘That’s just stupid, they are going to fall and hurt themselves.’ It was clear to me that he loved golf. If it was up to him, he’d be playing all day long, every day.”
Just as Jaylen arrived for his freshman year at D Tech, as it is affectionately called, a new administrator took over, one who was more open to the possibility of a golf team and who applauded his effort and persistence to start a team. But Wendy Gradek, the school’s athletic director, also shared some hard truths, ticking off a list of reasons why a team wasn’t in the cards. Jaylen was depressed.
“That list felt like a shutdown,” he said.
But where he viewed the glass as half empty, his father took a more optimistic stance. Ajay told his son that the athletic director had just given him a pathway to create a team. “No, she just gave me a list of nine reasons why we can’t have one,” Jaylen answered. “Follow the path and satisfy all nine checkpoints and they won’t have any choice but to say yes,” Ajay said. “Do you think it will work?” Jaylen wondered. “It just depends; how badly do you want a golf team?” Ajay asked. “I’m dying for it,” Jaylen responded.
In the fall semester of his freshman year, Jaylen and classmate Lexi Ottoveggio reframed the list of “impossibilities” into a nine-step plan to build a co-ed team. They convinced an algebra teacher, Daniel McGowan, who knew nothing about golf – didn’t own a set of clubs and had never played – to be the coordinator for a club team and began tackling the list one item at a time. For starters, rounding out a roster proved more challenging than Jaylen had expected.
Jaylen persuaded friends who’d never played before to give up their Nintendo Switch in favor of golf clubs he provided. Forced out of his comfort zone, he patrolled his school during lunch, scoping for signs of golfers. He poached players from the baseball team, thinking they at least knew how to swing. He once dashed through a crowded hallway to recruit an upperclassman wearing a Titleist cap. Out of breath, he asked if he played golf. “He looked a bit startled, but he said yes, and by the end of the conversation, he agreed to join,” Jaylen recounted. “This moment sums up the early days of our team. A lot of hustle, a bit of luck and the excitement of securing member after member.”
Some of the newbies showed up for practice in hoodies, eating family-size bags of Takis on the first tee. But their presence counted.
“Perhaps the most significant test of my leadership was persuading my teammates to save the Takis for after the round!” Jaylen joked.
Administrative hurdles were next for Jaylen and Lexi, but the hardest challenge of all? That would be finding a coach. Jaylen’s cold calls and emails went unanswered, and local ads yielded nothing. The school's paltry salary of $3,000 deterred qualified candidates. Desperate, he begged his father to coach.
Practices were held at Mariners Point in Foster City, a nine-hole par-3 course with a driving range. It served as the team’s official home course in 2023 too. When Ajay noticed other high school teams hitting balls there, he’d approach a coach and ask if they’d be willing to scrimmage against his start-up team. It reminded him a bit of his single days.
“Can I get your number?” he’d ask. “It was like asking these other coaches out on dates. I was just trying to build credibility so we could get in a league.”
Ajay eventually talked a veteran certified coach who had already been vetted for San Mateo County to be his co-coach, and the baton was later passed to another parent, Dave Loo, as work responsibilities forced Ajay to an assistant’s role.
Impressed by the team’s progress and dogged effort, Gradek expanded the sports budget to make space for a new team, awarding the golfers a $3,000 budget to be the school’s first co-ed team. By 2024, Jaylen’s sophomore year, with Gradek going to bat for them, Design Tech was admitted to the West Bay Athletic League for golf.
“It honestly wouldn't have been possible without her,” Jaylen said.
She was a godsend, scheduling matches and arranging for early dismissals and other administrative needs. Local support came from the likes of their local TopGolf, which donated bays for up to two hours a week of free access, daily fee Crystal Springs in Burlingame and private clubs such as Green Hills Country Club in Millbrae, which allowed them to host practice and matches during slow periods on weekday afternoons.
As captain, Jaylen managed logistics, resolved conflicts and taught new players the basics, igniting their passion for the game. Beyond lessons and etiquette, he ensured everyone had the gear, rides, and support to belong. Most of all, he learned an important life lesson along the way.
“It taught me that when you have roadblocks, you can't get discouraged,” Jaylen said. “Understand what you're dealing with and then try and find ways to work around it or to overcome it.”
The roster grew to 12 players, with six competing per match. And this rag-tag bunch has produced some serious talent. None more so than the Loos. Just as Jaylen and Lexi had wrangled enough players to form a team, Malia Loo, who had tried unsuccessfully for three years to start her own team before becoming discouraged, caught wind of the team and wanted to join.
“We were like, ‘How is this possible?’ ” recounted Dave Loo, Malia’s father, and D Tech’s current head coach of the golf team.
Malia, a scratch golfer who served as team captain and graduated from Design Tech in 2023, is currently in her second year on a golf scholarship at Pitzer College. Her senior quote – Go Touch Grass – became the battle cry of her own grow-the-game initiative. Along the way she taught Jaylen and Lexi how to be team leaders. Brother Dawson, a year younger, also became an influential starter during his two seasons on the team. He graduated in 2024 and is an Evans Scholar recipient at Northwestern University, one of the first to come out of California. He and Malia both graduated with associate degrees in addition to their high school diplomas. Youngest brother, Gavin, is Class of 2027 and perhaps the most talented golfer of the siblings.
Jason Yee was a newbie to the game when he joined the Design Tech golf team. He was introduced to the sport through Dawson and fell in love with the game. He ran the team’s Instagram account, posting golf-related videos to spread awareness of the team. During quarantine, Yee’s screen time skyrocketed. But golf provided a way for him to go out and get off the screens. His hard work and dedication led to the 2023 grad breaking 100 at the Central Coast Section (CCS) qualifier.
Asher Colman used to tease Jaylen about playing golf until he tried it for the first time and got hooked. Within days, he began bombarding his phone with questions about equipment, swing tips and progress videos. He constantly showed up early to practice, started playing in his free time and purchased a brand-new set of TaylorMade irons.
As for the upperclassmen Jaylen chased down a hallway with a Titleist cap? It turned out he was academically ineligible, but the golf team proved to be the incentive he needed to get his grades up so he could play.
Ajay and Dave weren’t the only parents pitching in. One arranged for team jackets and skull caps while Lexi’s mom organized a carpool spreadsheet to go from school to the course or practice facility. [Most schools they played against had a team bus or van.] Several of the team members bring their golf bags in the morning on the train to school, transfer them to the D Tech shuttle that picks them up at the station and store them behind the front desk at school until it’s time to head to practice or a match.
The team has improved each year, winning countless matches celebrated afterward by pizza or Chick-Fil-A, advancing to state championships, and remaining one of the few co-ed teams in the state. Jaylen typically plays behind Gavin and Christopher Tam, a plus-handicap who chose D Tech over being home-schooled in part because of the chance to play on a golf team. Last season, Jaylen was named team MVP by Coach Loo, not for his prowess with a putter but rather for his work behind the scenes to make the golf team a success.
“While I love playing, my proudest moments came from helping others succeed,” he said. “This team is rooted in leadership and continues to create opportunities for others. I'm proud to have transformed a list of challenges into a program that now plays from the fairway, not the rough.”
That was because Jaylen completed his nine-point pathway to success.