​Hotshots Lacrosse Club Founder and Executive Director Andrew Chalupa has been dedicated to the growth of lacrosse in Santa Barbara and the Santa Ynez Valley for over 6 years. Upon his arrival in Santa Barbara in 2017, he methodically brought organization and accountability back to the boy's youth program which at the time was in need of a seasoned, professional leader that had experience running large youth lacrosse programs.  His vision then remains unchanged today: to create a true feeder program to all three public schools in Santa Barbara and teach solid lacrosse fundamentals to boys of every ability and age level with expert local high school coaches and ex-collegiate players.  He knew that the next phase in Santa Barbara's development in the game would be to hit the road during the Spring Rec Season. While cultivating lacrosse and organizing Santa Barbara youth and high school players, he began planting seeds in the Santa Ynez Valley to bring the game to an area ripe with need for an alternative to traditional spring sports offerings.  The seeds in SYV have grown into a strong foundation of four very athletic boys teams, ages 5-12 with many parents and players looking to help him pave the way for the first public high school in Santa Ynez to provide CIF lacrosse team to it's student population.

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Under Chalupa's guidance and persistence and in addition to the main season in the spring, Kindergarten through 8th grade can now play lacrosse in SB and SYV during the summer, fall and winter months.  He provides personal instruction to most players picking up sticks for the first time and takes pride in his dogged pursuit of introducing the game to as many kids as he can in Santa Barbara County and providing them with paths to reach their goals in high school and college.  In 2023, he created the Grizzlies Lacrosse Club, the Hotshots tournament team travel club which pulls players from as far north as San Luis Obispo and as far south as Corona del Mar.

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From 2010-2016 while living in Newport Beach, Andrew was a Varsity Coach under former NCAA National Coach of the Year G.W. Mix at Corona Del Mar High School.  While at CDM, he helped the Kings and Coach Mix lead the Sea Kings to 7 CIF Playoff appearances and 5 Pacific Coast League Championship victories. The 2012 Sea King team was the first in CIF lacrosse history to win the Southern Section championship with an undefeated record (24-0). In his final season in 2016, he and the Sea Kings won the CIF Southern Section Championship once again.

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Since its inception in 2014, Chalupa has also been involved with operations and ticket sales for the Pacific Coast Shootout, a major college lacrosse event that brings two of the top Division I programs to the West Coast each spring to play a regular-season game. Past participants include Cornell, Denver, Maryland, Notre Dame, North Carolina and Virginia.

 

He has coached 19 high school All-Americans and has had a hand in helping more than 50 players playing NCAA Div I, Div III, and MCLA lacrosse.  Many of his former Surf Dawgs/Sea Kings can be seen competing currently at the Division I level during the spring for programs like Brown, Harvard, Yale, Denver, Notre Dame, Rutgers, Villanova and Drexel Universities.

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Andrew played multiple sports growing up in New Jersey and in the 7th grade was introduced to a lacrosse stick by his school's head coach.  In high school, Coach Chalupa was a 2-sport athlete, playing both football and lacrosse all four years at Hunterdon Central High School.  In football, he earned All-Area, All-County, and All-Conference honors at middle linebacker.  As a lacrosse player for the Red Devils, he earned First-Team All State honors, as well as being named First Team All-Pitt Division, All-Conference and All-County midfielder.  He was also honored to receive his team's MVP award and was selected to the All-New Jersey North/South Game.  He went on to play collegiate lacrosse at Pfeiffer University in North Carolina where he was a 3 year starter and relied upon to not only take the team's face-off draws, but was also one of the few "two-way" midfielders on the team.  Chalupa helped his Falcons win three consecutive Deep South Conference Championships from 1996-1998 and was a key contributor to their highest ranking (#5 in the nation) when they were a NCAA Div II program.  

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Andrew and his wife Amber reside in Solvang with their 8 year old son Kanin.