Prince Charles is the full-time assistant coach for the Men’s Lacrosse team at Virginia Wesleyan University.
Charles prides himself on helping the lacrosse program improve everyday. He is a recent graduate at Randolph College and coached there for two years, with one year as a volunteer and the second year as a paid assistant.
Hailing from Virginia Beach, Charles attended Cape Henry Collegiate. He played anything from midfield to face off.
Players on the team have become fond of the assistant coach here. Freshman midfielder and defender Aidan Foley praised Charles for his personality. “I like him as an assistant coach, he’s a young guy so he relates to us well. He’s funny, energetic and understanding in conversation,” Foley said.
As a young entrepreneur, Charles has a personal brand of training and stringing lacrosse sticks called Prince Charles. He aspires to have a training hub and facility and eventually facilities around the area for everyone to join in and be a part of. He runs his own social media and has an innovative use of an emblem of a crown.
“Charles is clearly an attention grabber. The purple color actually came from one of my favorite artists, Prince,” Charles said. “Also, Don Toliver is one of my favorites right now. So Donny Womack (2018 Album) is the inspiration too.”
Charles wants to eventually grow not only his brand but the game of lacrosse to new heights in Virginia.
Charles’s goal since the day he got here has been simple: help the team’s reputation as a whole. “Of course, building this program when I got here, the culture piece was a little damaged. So my logic was to figure out a way to rebuild that and make sure it was stable for years to come,” Charles said.
When developing the brotherhood aspect of the program, he didn’t want the team to feel like a fraternity.
“We’re all basically a brotherhood. Not necessarily a fraternity. There’s a negative connotation with fraternities, but brotherhood is a hard thing to establish without the right pieces. Slowly but surely I’ve been able to make sure that each of these pieces is slowly fitting in so the dynamic is one that everyone respects around us,” Charles said.
Charles, nicknamed “PC,” has an outrageously outgoing personality to offer. He prides himself on his ability to reach out and connect people in this community.
“My talent is being a very personable person and pursuing goals the regular person wouldn’t do. Being in the chamber orchestra, being an athlete, being a tour guide. Basically being a voice for the generation that is next to show up,” Charles said.
Charles’s role on the team and in the lives of people around him is not something he takes lightly. “There’s a lot of responsibility and a lot of people don’t understand that the extra mile is that you actually have to go out and just do things that you might not even think twice about,” Charles said. “Leaving an imprint on these athletes and gentlemen is a pretty serious one.”
Assistant Coach Prince Charles walks
with freshman Leif Simons.
PC has come a long way in his time at VWU. But he doesn’t plan on slowing down in pursuits to nationals or his start-up business.
By Josh Heller
jmheller@vwu.edu