Anyone who spends enough time out on SHS’ turf field will recognize David Lii – even if not by name, by face.  A familiar figure at the school’s athletic field, David is typically seen out there coaching at least two out of the three seasons of the year.  A SHS graduate of 2002, David’s love for sports continued after finishing UC San Diego where he earned his Bachelor of Science degree with a concentration in Management Science.   

 

After four years of football in addition to one year of track at SHS, David did not participate in collegiate sport until his second year at UCSD.  Being away from the competitive atmosphere of organized sports and camaraderie of a team in freshman year made David realize that he really wanted to again play competitive team sports, and he decided to make an attempt in his second year by walking onto a team. He narrowed his choices to UCSD’s track team and a club lacrosse team and immediately went to work to get back in shape.  After obtaining the school track team’s summer workout routines from a friend who was a hurdler on the team, David reintroduced himself to the "Skateboard Hill" behind Foothill Elementary School back home and all summer long he stuck to the strict regiment of running and weight-lifting.  “Early on in the training, I would find myself keeled over a bush in the Saratoga High parking lot after a workout. It was clear that the flag football at UCSD and Bench Press/Bicep Curl workout in my first year of college didn't get me in track shape,” David humors the funny moments of getting back in shape.  “At that time it had been so long since I did Olympic lifts (exercises that improve explosiveness and overall leg strength) that I forgot the rubberized weights are often labeled in kilograms rather than pounds. I grabbed a weight labeled '20' thinking it was 20 lbs when in reality it was 20 kg – or 45 lbs. Obviously, I failed at my attempts to perform the lift, and had to re-rack the weights with great embarrassment.”

 

Despite the tough start to get back in shape, when tryouts finally came around involving a 30m standing start, 30m fly, 150m run, 600m run, and an over-the-head shot throw, David tied for the fastest time in the 30m standing start among all athletes including those returning from the previous year.  And in spite of the poor performance in shot throw due to a shoulder injury from flag football a week before tryouts, David made UCSD track team as he had hoped.  

 

Track in college, as David would come to find out, turned out to be the most physically challenging thing he had to do in his life. He had thought football workouts were hard, but he couldn’t say that they did much to prepare him for the grueling interval workouts of track.  Practice at UCSD during the fall and winter quarters was generally from 3-5pm Monday-Friday, with a 1.5-2 hour weight-lifting session following practice on Mondays and Wednesdays. Saturday was lifting from 9-11:30am. 

 

All through college, whenever David was back in Saratoga from UCSD, he would stop in the SHS weight room, not only to visit but also to pass along any new knowledge to the current high school athletes.  And so it seemed natural that two weeks after he graduated, SHS coach Kevin Tanner – who was David’s own high school coach for two years – asked if David would be interested in helping coach the defense for football at SHS.  David jumped at the opportunity and to this date never looked back.

 

David now works at Saratoga Research & Investment Management in downtown Saratoga.  SaratogaRIM manages investment accounts such as retirement accounts, trusts, and foundations. “With the stock market closing at 1pm on the west coast, it leaves me a bit of free time in the afternoons (to coach).  But this also means early mornings and late nights after practice,” David replied when asked how he could possibly find the time to coach.

David’s advice for high school athletes who have any aspirations (any whatsoever) of participating in a sport in college is a 3-step action plan:

Step 1: Use your freshman year experiences to help you decide what you want to accomplish. Dream Big.

Step 2: Stay focused on your goal and be disciplined when it comes to attending off-season workouts. This means sacrificing the majority of your summer vacation to participate in off-season training.

Step 3: Tell your coach your goals. Seek their advice early on so that they can point you in the right direction when it comes to training and the recruiting process.

 

A strong believer of sports, David says: “Sports have definitely helped define who I am today. They have undoubtedly played a role in how I obtained my position at SaratogaRIM. I believe the mental toughness and discipline developed through my participation in sports has translated into disciplined study habits and a persevering attitude when it comes to problem-solving at work. I know what sports have given me, and that's why I am doing my best to return the favor as a coach and hopefully passing on my knowledge to current SHS student-athletes. Today I am still heavily involved in sports; besides coaching, I play flag football and softball several days a week throughout most of the year.”

 

David’s most memorable sports moment from SHS is his football game on Senior Night against Los Gatos: “I intercepted Trent Edwards and returned it 96 yards for a touchdown. We were leading 7-6 at halftime, but sadly they came back to win with the final score being 14-7. I don't believe Trent Edwards (current Buffalo Bills QB in the NFL) lost a varsity game in high school, including CCS playoffs. My (SHS) team ended up beating #13 ranked Gunderson High (by the Mercury News) in CCS only to lose to Pioneer High in a close Semi-final game.”