Before the start of the 2023 school year, the SRHS girls lacrosse team didn’t have a coach. Instead, they had a couple of student athletes from Dominican University who would help out every week. They helped keep the program alive, but weren’t able to put in as much time as they wished they could. SRHS senior Sierra Balch stepped up and made it her priority to find a new leader and was driven to make a change. She was ultimately the student who helped pick the coach. That coach was Charlie Hurst.
Hurst was 18-years-old, about to graduate high school when he made the decision to up and move from his hometown of Jacksonville, Florida.
Hurst traveled 2000 miles from Jacksonville, Florida to San Rafael, California in order to attend Dominican University in 2018. After graduating from Dominican, Hurst was connected to Balch and agreed to coach the SR girls lacrosse team.
His passion for lacrosse didn’t come early. Hurst grew up playing many different sports such as football, baseball, and basketball. He started playing lacrosse in the 7th grade and continued playing lacrosse along with football up into his senior year of high school. His senior year, Hurst knew he wanted to get recruited for playing football. However, he ended up getting recruited to play lacrosse for Dominican University instead. Hurst’s decision to fly out to California was due to an interest in “what life in California would be like.”
After touring the campus, Hurst felt it would be the right decision due to the warm welcoming from Dominican University. He was able to play in tournaments in various states all over the country. “Places, being from Florida, that I’d never been to,” he said. “And so it kind of just really opened up a lot of opportunities.”
In the summer of his senior year, Hurst felt he needed a change of scenery. He was juggling school, sports, and work. Hurst worked at the Bj’s restaurant that closed down in 2023 at the local Northgate Mall in San Rafael. During his senior year, he was working with the Marketing and Media program for the Dominican Athletic Department. Meanwhile, he was trying to make ends meet putting in hours at the Sling-It! shop in downtown San Rafael.
During our interview, Hurst explained that Jordan Walter, President of the Blue Jay’s Lacrosse Club, is the one who connected him to a Dominican summer camp coaching position. Luckily enough, Hurst had experience as assistant coach on his team at Dominican. He enjoyed it so much he accepted the position with the summer program that Walter offered him. However, now he would take on a position that would involve working with the youth. Hurst enjoyed his time at the summer camp and recalls his fun moments with the ten-year-old students. Hurst said, “I could almost act as a ten-year-old at some times.” With a huge grin on his face, he continued “It was a calling for me.” These experiences are what pushed him to want to help Balch improve the girls lacrosse program.
So, there was a search for a new head coach for the team. Balch explained how she got in touch with a former Team USA and All American lacrosse player, Jane Quinn, who unfortunately could not coach the SR’s girls lacrosse program because of outside factors. However, Jane helped connect Balch with other individuals who could possibly fit the role. Hurst received a phone call from Quinn expressing how Balch was on the lookout for a head coach. Eventually, that’s when Balch would later on get in touch with Charlie Hurst.
This shows the commitment Balch put into looking for a leader. The spirit of one athlete went above and beyond to help out her school. Hurst was equally as driven to have an impact on a community that he would eventually learn to connect with. He is eager to improve the girls lacrosse program and by doing so, he is holding conditioning and competing sessions three times a week from 7 am to 8 am in the fall to prepare for the spring season. That is something that hasn’t been seen in a while due to lack of leadership before Hurst.
This goes to show the nature of his competitiveness and how he reflects his own persona onto his students. Prioritizing the importance of learning and improving to overcome defeat. This will create a positive impact on the team which goes to show Hurst’s values as a person and help showcase his commitment to rebuilding and enhancing the teams overall dynamics.
SRHS alumni, Hannah Chamberlain, expressed her feelings about the program. She had played lacrosse throughout all her four years at SR. Chamberlain experienced all the ups and downs of the program and has full knowledge of how the team was struggling. She said there was one coach her first two years who helped keep the program alive, but for unknown reasons, they could no longer coach. That’s when two Dominican students helped out, but as Chamberlain said in a text message, “Their coaching style wasn’t my favorite and there was a lack of availability. They did what they could, so I am grateful for that.”
A moment Chamberlain doesn’t forget is when they were losing by so much in a game, but as Chamberlain recalls, Coach Hurst never mistreated the players. Chamberlain said, “He started congratulating the new players on doing their best against a strong team, about our “little wins,” and about the improvements from the last game. He made me feel like it was a win in its own way.”
About a year ago, Hurst started a business called One Percent. He started it because his coaching position grew and so did the amount of youth willing to be coached by him. He initially thought of his business because he had gotten kicked out of a field by another lacrosse program that needed the space. As a young 24-year-old, Hurst knew he had to start the business to be able to advocate for himself and his students.
A year has passed since he started his One Percent coaching business in 2023 and after I asked him why he named it One Percent, he replied with, “Because everyday you get one percent better.”
