Hardy began lacrosse in Reading and left having changed its landscape

When Charlie Hardy started the Reading High boys lacrosse program around the start of the new millennium, his vision for the program was a simple one.

“My vision was to make a program where kids could enjoy lacrosse,” he said.

Over the last two-plus decades, plenty of young athletes in Reading learned to enjoy the game Hardy grew up playing in his native Long Island, one of lacrosse’s hotbeds, and at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

Along the way, the Rockets won plenty of games, as well as two state championships, one in 2018 and another in 2023.

This spring, for the first time since the program’s debut, Hardy will not be its head coach. Earlier this week, he decided it was time to step down.

“I’m going to do some traveling,” said the 73-year-old Hardy, who had coached at a private school in New Jersey prior to moving to Reading 39 years ago. “I’m going to stay involved in the youth program and just maybe help out with the varsity as a volunteer. I was spending six days a week, five hours a day with it. I’m going to be 74 and I wanted to step away from it while I still had my health.”

In addition to coaching at Reading, Hardy also owns and operates Hillside Florist in Woburn and gifts and runs a cottage rental business in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire.

During his 22 years at Reading, Hardy compiled a 403-103 record. The Rockets won Division 2 state championships in 2018 and 2023. Ten of the players on the team that won the states last year are playing college lacrosse at the varsity or club level.

“Charlie is a great guy and a great friend,” said Concord-Carlisle coach Tom Dalicandro, whose team Reading defeated to win the 2018 state title. “He’s very knowledgeable about lacrosse, but he also has an ability to get his kids to play hard all the time and play the right way.You can tell the kids like him and respond to him.”

Said Charlie Miele, who was a senior on the 2021 team that won the MIAA Division 2 North title, “He really knows the game. He’s an old school coach and he’s always had good game plans.”

Miele is now a junior at St. Lawrence University, where he plays lacrosse. In 2021, he and teammate Matt Blasi earned All-America honors.

“He’s a great coach and a better person,” said Blasi, now a junior at Union College, where he also plays lacrosse. “Every day in practice he wanted us to get better.”

While the All-Americans and future college players made their marks, Hardy also found a way for every player on the roster to make an impact.

“If you’re one of the 25 players on the roster, you’re probably going to get into the game,” he said.

“I wasn’t a lacrosse player, per se,” said Thomas O’Brien, a 2022 graduate who spent his springs playing lacrosse, though he saw most of his athletic success as an All-State lineman for the Reading High football team. “I still always wanted to play lacrosse and he’s a really good guy who would do anything for you.”

O’Brien is a freshman at Harvard University where he plays football. Recently, the Crimson’s football coach, Tim Murphy, retired after 30 years leading the program. Though they coached different sports at different levels, O’Brien sees some commonalities between the two mentors.

“They never overreact,” O’Brien said. “Whether you win or lose they’re both the same person. You can talk to them about anything.”

While the Reading program has become one of the best in the state, consistently in the mix for state titles, it wasn’t always that way. Hardy got involved in the efforts to start a lacrosse program after a friend called him and suggested starting one.

While Reading has highly successful outdoor track and baseball programs in addition to a very competitive tennis team, Hardly believed there was a place for lacrosse at Reading High.

“We’d take anyone,” Hardy said. “Not everyone can hit a curveball or run really fast. The kids took to it. Once you start playing it gets in your blood.”

For the first two years, the program was self-funded.

“He was always going to Dick’s Sporting Goods or Target, making sure everyone had what they needed,” Blasi said.

Reading’s success in the other “helmet sports,” football and hockey, also carried over well to the lacrosse field.

“We were playing a game on a grass field and it was raining,” Hardy said of one game in the early years. “The hockey coach was there and he said it looked like hockey in mud. The hockey guys really helped us out.”

Over time, the program began to win games, then Middlesex League championships. Then it competed for state titles.

One of the keys to success was the youth program.

“Once we were playing Lexington and one of our kids asked one of their kids how long he had been playing,” Hardy said. “The Lexington kid said seven years. With the youth teams, you have to work hard to make sure they’re teaching the game the right way and the kids are having fun. Nobody remembers how many games they won in the fifth grade.”

Another factor was Hardy’s willingness to play the best competition possible. In addition to playing a Middlesex League schedule that includes traditional power Winchester and strong programs in places like Lexington, Wakefield and Melrose, Reading regularly faces state-wide powers such as BC High, Lincoln-Sudbury, Concord-Carlisle and Acton-Boxborough.

“We now play one of the best schedules in the state,” Hardy said. “You want 60-40 games, but also 50-50 games and 40-60 games. That’s where you learn what you need to do to get better.”

Most of the time, no matter whom the opponent was, Reading gave as well as it got.

“Every time you play Reading, you’re in for a tough game,” said Acton-Boxborough coach Pat Ammendolia, whose team plays in the Players Cup tournament along with Reading over April vacation. “I work with a lot of Reading kids during the summer. They always have good athletes and they play the right way.”

Now that Hardy is stepping away from his head coaching position, he’s looking forward to spending more time with his family among other things.

“All of my grandchildren call me ‘Coach,’” he said.