Trent DiCicco always wanted to be a professional athlete. Like every kid out there, it was the pipe dream drawn on elementary school sketches and scribbled on papers.

But unlike every kid out there, DiCicco made it big: the Canadian is a transition player now in his second season with the San Diego Seals, California’s only team in the North America-wide National Lacrosse League (NLL).

DiCicco grew up in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, a city with a climate as different from the sunny West Coast as it can get. In typical Canadian fashion, ice hockey was his first love, but watching his cousins take on box lacrosse inspired him to give it a try.

“All the hockey players up north need something to do in the summer when the ice melts, and that was box lacrosse,” DiCicco said. “So that’s how I got into it and fell in love with it ever since.”

Hockey and lacrosse went hand in hand for the kids in Guelph — hockey made you a better lacrosse player, and lacrosse made you a better hockey player. Baseball, which DiCicco also gave his best attempt at as a kid, wasn’t for him.

“I can’t remember the exact age [I started playing], probably five or six, started at paperweight,” DiCicco said. “Then I had taken a year off to play baseball and couldn’t stand it because it was so boring, and I’ve played lacrosse every year since.”

For those sports fans who don’t know much about the turf-born sport of box lacrosse, let’s describe it as DiCicco did: a hybrid between the quick thinking of hockey and the strategy of basketball.

“In hockey, you’re reading or reacting, and you have to think pretty quick,” DiCicco said. “But I think there’s a strategic aspect of lacrosse, sometimes slowing the game down, which I like.”

The road to the pros began in 2019 when DiCicco signed his letter of intent with Ohio State, but the journey wasn’t without its road bumps. Fresh out of playing with the Kitchener-Waterloo Braves, a Canadian Junior A box lacrosse team in Ontario, the pandemic interrupted DiCicco’s plans. It wasn’t until two years later that he finally stepped onto the field as a freshman.

In his last year playing in Junior A, DiCicco broke his foot playing at Ohio State.

“I missed most of that season, and then I only came back for playoffs,” DiCicco said. “Ended up having a decent playoffs, but there was still a two-year gap between when I graduated college and when I could go pro in box [lacrosse].”

After graduating in 2024, DiCicco followed an Ohio State alumni connection back to Canada, where he briefly played Senior A for the Victorious Shamrocks.

“[The Shamrocks] kind of took a flyer. They knew I was a decent player, but I hadn’t played box for two years, almost, and so they took a chance on me,” DiCicco said.

The Shamrocks made it all the way to the MANN Cup in 2024 — Canada’s senior men’s box lacrosse championship — and just like that, DiCicco was back on the pro-game radar.

Graduate school applications set DiCicco’s sights on the West Coast, solidified by his acceptance into Stanford University. If the NLL was the goal, it would have to be in San Diego.

Years of hard work and a splash of luck made the dream become reality: In September 2024, DiCicco was selected as the San Diego Seals’ first of three first-round draft picks.

“It couldn’t have worked out any better. Last year was my first season, and I loved every minute of it,” DiCicco said. “It’s a great group of guys from top down, very low ego and everyone cares about each other, which I can’t say is probably the culture everywhere.”

It only took one season for DiCicco to make himself known in the NLL. At the end of the 2024-25 season, DiCicco had seven goals, 11 assists, 95 loose balls and was named to the NLL’s All-Rookie Team.

The pro league comes with its own challenges, especially for a sport so widely dispersed across both the United States and Canada. With much of the team living outside of California, Fridays become travel and practice days and Saturdays are dedicated to game day prep and, of course, the game itself.

“It’s not always the easiest thing to balance, but you do it because you love it and you love to play,” DiCicco said.

 One of his earliest and fondest memories with the Seals is his first training camp with the team, held at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center.

“Just seeing how everyone was supported together and grinded through that together, from that point on, I knew there was a special group of guys, so that’s what stands out,” DiCicco said.

Spanning 155 acres and overlooking the mountain ranges of Southern California, the training center location is not exactly known for its forgiving summer temperatures—and the training itself was even less so.

“It was my first taste of San Diego, and it was a beautiful spot,” DiCicco said. “Pretty hard [training], which we all laugh about, but it was a good time and really set the tone for the year.”

The transition player from the chilly Guelph is just getting warmed up here in San Diego, and there’s no doubt he’ll make even more memories in the seasons to come. Having appeared in all 17 games this season, there’s still everything to play for.

The Seal’s fan base have also shown DiCicco some love, and he won the fan-voted title of Defensive Player of the Year at Friday night’s home match.

“I’m taking it one season at a time, focused on this season right now and the group that we do have here,” DiCicco said. “But it’s a special opportunity to get to play, and not everyone can do it.”