Athlete Spotlight: James Wood football player Ronan Solosky

James Wood High School 17-year-old senior

 

Sport: Football. Positions: Center and defensive line

 

Parents: Joey and Paul Solosky

 

Hometown: Winchester

 

What do you love about football?: I love the brotherhood. It’s great. I love everything about it. Meeting great friends. And you stick together forever, even after high school. We’re out here, blood, sweat and tears. It’s awesome.

 

Most memorable moment in football: Definitely last year, beating Millbrook and Sherando. Those two games, it just felt like a dream because it was so quick. It was over in the blink of an eye.

 

Most embarrassing moment in football: It was probably in [our second scrimmage this summer] against Boonsboro. I was going up against a pretty good nose tackle, and the very first play, he just obliterated me. He hit my poor running back Wes Brondos in the backfield for a loss. Other than that, it was a pretty good scrimmage for me. It was just that first play. Even my dad came up to me on the sideline and just shook his head.

 

Most difficult moment in football: It’s probably this year, these two-a-days [for practice]. I’ve never gone through a full week of two-a-days before. My sophomore year, we only had like four [days of those]. So this year when we did them, it was just really hard. Everybody is really soar, really tired.

 

Three people you can have dinner with, dead or alive: [Mixed martial artist] Conor McGregor. Ronald Reagan; we learned about him in government [class] and my dad’s teaching me about him. And Joe Paterno; he’s one of the greatest college football coaches in history.

 

Biggest athletic influence: Tiger Woods; he’s gone through a lot of adversity. But he has a great work ethic and he’s become one of the greatest golfers ever.

 

Favorite teacher: Ms. [Deborah] Grumbacher. She teaches history [at James Wood]. She was a really great teacher for me last year. She helped me a lot. She made class fun and interesting, and I learned a lot from her when it was hard to learn last year.

 

Favorite athlete: Tom Brady

 

Favorite sports team: Washington Football Team

 

Favorite movie: “Remember the Titans”

 

Favorite TV show: “SportsCenter”

 

Favorite song: “Country Squire” by Tyler Childers

 

Favorite food: Chicken wings

 

Worst thing you’ve eaten: I had a really bad piece of pizza from a pizza place.

 

Plans after high school: I plan on attending a four-year school. I want to major in agrobusiness. My grandfather, he owns a farm, and I love working with him. He’s taught me a lot, so that’s why I want to go into his field.

 

— Compiled by Robert Niedzwiecki