Solsma Steps Back and Gives it Everything He’s Got
Solsma is stuck in the pocket. It’s a cool Spring evening. However, he sweats underneath his gear as he look for an open receiver. Looking to score, Trent Solsma realizes he’s been in this situation before.
His team has made it to the State Championship. He was here the year before. That day ended in defeat. Today he feels the pressure. He feels pressure to bring a win to his high school. He feels pressure of four years work. He feels the pressure of the defenders rushing at him.
At this moment he glides along the turf, picks his spot, and unloads. He has let the ball leave his hands, hoping he has chosen the right fate for it’s landing. The ball hits the receiver in the end zone! Solsma has ended the drive with a touchdown. Nearly a year after his defeat in the State Championship, Solsma has lead his team to victory.
That moment is now eighteen months past. As a sophomore at Morningside College, Trent Solsma and the Mustangs have recently been defeated in the NAIA Championship Quarterfinals. Solsma does not feel down on his luck however. Years after he first started playing football, he can see the NAIA Championship on the horizon.
“I probably started playing flag football as early as the 2nd grade,” remembers Solsma. Growing up in “Siouxland,” Trent Solsma started playing football at a young age “and just having fun.” He would play mostly with friends, but the champion quarterback did not always think about playing football.
“I was originally doing well at baseball, and thinking of that for scholarships,” he reveals. For his first two years in high school, Solsma was a successful baseball player, and he was beginning to put football as an afterthought.
In his junior year, things began to change for him. He became the starting quarterback for his school. That was the first year his team would go to the State Championship, with Solsma as their leader. “Things began to get serious. This was my first time being the leader; it was when I decided that football was something I was really good at. “
Solsma says that it is a bit of a struggle to balance football and education. It gets especially hard when you have three hours of meetings and workouts, followed by a day’s homework. However, Solsma proclaims, “Doing both is definitely worth it.”
His life does not completely revolve around playing football and going to class. He enjoys spending time with friends and “Laying back to watch TV and play games.” If he weren’t playing football, he does have other interests, such as Mass Communications. “I did some things last year on the radio and it was fun. I would love to do some play-by-play. I could definitely do that!”
As impressive as his year was, the array of talent in the NAIA is not lost on Solsma. It is rare that players reach the professional status in sports from the NAIA. Most professional athletes that have been drafted out of college are taken from the NCAA. This is something that has caught Solsma’s attention.
“I think that it is very rare that you see anybody in the pro sports that is from the NAIA, they’re mostly from the NCAA. But I’ve seen that there is great talent in the NAIA that get’s overlooked,” he explains. But this does not mean he is getting overlooked himself. He does not have the professional life in his mind for sports. “I mean, obviously, if I were to get called up, I would try my hardest,” says Solsma. “But, I don’t think the pro life is for me.”
Trent Solsma is a Secondary Education major with a focus on History. A great history teacher that he had in high school convinced him that this was the subject for him. It also gives him the opportunity to coach.
“My dream is to be an athletic director!” exclaims Solsma. He would love the opportunity to Coach a football team at the collegiate level. However, he doesn’t think he will be Coaching in Sioux City. “I would like to move somewhere else. I wouldn’t move too far away because I want to stay near family, but I might try living somewhere else.”
For now he looks forward to next year and another shot at redemption to win another championship. He knows that it will be long and hard work but he is prepared. “We do long workouts and train hard during the offseason and I think this will lead us farther than this year. We definitely have a possibility.”
So many athletes seem to have egos that spill into their personality. Mostly this is seen negatively by the public; however, Solsma believes ego is an important part to the game. “I think it’s important to keep an ego. We need to go out there and believe that we are the best players in the league and that we will win whenever we take the field.”
As we sit in the warmth of the café on the Morningside Campus and discuss the effects an ego has on the team, several people approach the table to say “Hi” to Trent. Each one is very friendly in their approach and he is friendly is response. Ego has no obvious effect on who Trent Solsma is or any seeable effect on his personal life. “I’ve never tried to be the popular kid, I just go out there and be myself, and sometimes people like me.”
Solsma matches his personality by those he admires. He also tries to be the great person and athlete that has made him so likable. “My football hero is Drew Brees. He’s a great quarterback and a great person off the field. That’s how I try to live my life.”
This high school champion is now in training for his second year as Morningside’s starting quarterback. He is preparing for a chance to be a collegiate champion, and, if the stars align, a two-time NAIA Champion. Solsma plans on becoming a high school coach and athletic director. Right now he is Morningside’s star quarterback But, whatever cards he is dealt, he has a simple and single creed to live by, “I’m just going to get up and give everything I’ve got. It’s not worth doing if your not going to give your everything.”