By River Mitchell
@rivermitchell27
Coming from Grand Valley State University to Springfield College, Liam Trost has served as the Coordinator of Equipment and Facilities and Football Equipment Manager since July of 2021. Trost has had a plethora of experience dating back to his time at GVSU, where he spent all four years working in the equipment room, ultimately earning a full-ride scholarship for his work.
However, Trost didn’t always know so much about equipment management, especially when he arrived at GVSU.
Growing up about 35 miles southwest of Chicago in Joliet, Ill., Trost came from a long line of family members working in various trades. His dad was an electrician, and two of his uncles worked as a construction worker and a mechanic, respectively. Helping them out in the summertime, Trost got used to working with his hands and fixing things.
He also had a deep love for sports, playing football, basketball, volleyball and other athletic competitions growing up as a kid. Having a passion for sports and a knack for fixing things turned out to be the perfect combination for his role today, though he initially wasn’t sure how to merge the two.
“I honestly didn’t really know much about equipment managing,” Trost said. “[GVSU] is a Division II school, and they’re usually top 10 every year. Their facilities were beautiful. I thought it was too cool not to get involved. [I] simply just wrote an email to coach [Matt Mitchell] asking if there’s any role that I could do to get involved, and it just so happened that their student worker was a senior.”
Being able to break in right away with the football team and replacing the team’s student worker, Trost did what he had always done, he got straight to work. Knowing there was a scholarship with his role up for grabs, Trost worked hard, doing everything that he could to get recognized.
“My first meeting with Coach [Mitchell], he was saying that the first year is going to be voluntary, but [depending] on how hard you work and how good you are will depend on your scholarship,” Trost said. “I took that, and I worked my tail off. Did whatever I could, and just loved the work itself, so it was easy for me. After that first-year, I ended up getting a full-ride scholarship.”
During his sophomore year, Trost was stuck between a decision. He wanted to go into a graduate assistant position or get a full-time job. So, Trost went onto the website for the Athletic Equipment Managers Association, and posed the question to the chat forum on what he should do when he graduates.
Janice Holder, who retired at the end of last school year, saw it, and contacted Trost’s supervisor. She reached out to Trost going into his senior year, letting him know that they might have a position for him. Still exploring some of his other options, Trost got a few offers for graduate assistant roles, but chose Springfield due to the full-time offer and wanting to get to work.
Since coming to Springfield College, Trost has worked very closely with the football team, taking care of all the equipment. His role ranges from doing laundry after practices, repairing equipment, making sure every player has what they need for games and more. He also works with a lot of other teams on campus as well, doing laundry and other various things to help them out.
“It’s been good, for sure,” Trost said. “The students here are great. Just interacting with them on a daily basis is really the driving factor for me. I want to provide the best service for them, and they’re definitely great kids.”