Castaic High School continued its string of new coaching hires, announcing on Wednesday that Charise Hall will helm the inaugural girls basketball team.
Hall, who grew up in Castaic and went to Castaic Middle School and Valencia High School, played basketball for the Vikings and for California State University, Northridge.
“It’s amazing. I’m a product of Castaic, so to be able to come back and just give back what they gave me, it’s pretty cool,” Hall said.
Hall spent the past few years in Arizona, first in Chino Valley, a small town about 100 miles north of Phoenix.
She was the head coach of the varsity girls basketball team for three years at Chino Valley High School, before taking the head coaching job of the junior varsity girls basketball team at Centennial High School in Peoria, Arizona.
Coincidentally, the mascot of Centennial High School is the same as Castaic High School, the Coyotes.
“I think being so young getting my first head coaching job there, there was a lot of pressure. Chino Valley is a small town so there’s a lot for me to take on, which I think helped me,” she said. “I had to put on many different hats and I think having that many roles and not having as much support as a bigger school made me have to step up. That really progressed my coaching faster than it ever would have anywhere else.”
Hall believes her experiences as a player will continue to aid her in her coaching career. She was a member of a powerhouse Valencia team in the mid-2000’s under head coach Jerry Mike and she’s also been through the ups-and-downs of a struggling team at CSUN.
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Additionally, she played the center and forward position in high school but transitioned to shooting guard in college, which expanded her knowledge on all different aspects of the game.
“I’ve seen it all. I’ve been on a successful team and I’ve been on a team that was rebuilding in college, so I’ve seen all the levels,” Hall said. “In high school, I was a forward and center, a semi-big, and then when I got to college there’s girls that are 6-5 and I couldn’t be a center anymore. I ended up being a two guard, but I think that helped me with my coaching because I played both positions.”
Hall has already started to assemble her coaching staff, including bringing on former Valencia teammate Chelsey Hastigan as an assistant coach.
She’s excited to build the girls basketball program from the ground up and lay a strong foundation with like-minded individuals.
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While she knows it won’t be an easy road, having the chance to watch her players grow from the beginning as freshmen is a rare opportunity most coaches will never have.
“You have to figure out what works, it’s going to be a lot of trial error, but I think it’s a coach’s dream to be able to start with freshmen and build the program from the ground up and just see the progression,” Hall said. “We just want to build that culture from the beginning. We want everybody to be on the same page. One of the hardest things when it comes to coaching is getting everyone on the same page, everyone to buy in, and I want to create this culture that we’re all in this together.”
And although she still has love for the Vikings, when it comes to tip-off, the Coyotes won’t hold anything back.
“I’m still a Viking, I’m definitely going to cheer on my Vikings. But when it comes to that court and when we play them, it’s all about our team. We’re going to get after them just like anybody else.”
