Nic Ten Grotenhuis, a freshman business & entrepreneurship major, started playing soccer when he was 5 years old. 

The California-native played other sports, including baseball, but no sport could compare to his love for soccer. Grotenhuis realized an additional talent when his mother signed him up for piano lessons, although neither of his parents played any instruments. Grotenhuis continued to pursue his passion for music and soccer when he entered high school, taking on acting as well. 

Grotenhuis assumed the role of The Renegades soccer co-captain this semester. He likes to socialize with his friends in his free time and said his understanding of people and nonjudgmental attitude sets him apart from everyone else.

The Chronicle spoke with Grotenhuis about his major, his love for music and his post-graduation plans. 

THE CHRONICLE: Why did you choose to attend Columbia?

NIC TEN GROTENHUIS: I really liked how I could combine music and business. I kind of wanted to get out of the state [of California] and go to a big city area. I visited last March, and I really liked it. It clicked with me. 

CC: What interested you about majoring in music business?

I was thinking about doing a [Contemporary Urban Pop] major, but I’m not super good at reading music—if I were doing that it would be more like work to me than like a hobby or a passion—so I did music business so that I could know both sides.

CC: What do you plan to do with your degree in music business?

Not entirely sure yet, but something on the production side would be awesome and being in the studio just writing songs. I would also love to be in a band, go on a world tour and write songs everybody hears.

CC: What motivated you to join the Renegades?

I wanted to keep playing soccer and even though Columbia is an art school, I didn’t want to [just] do music. I wanted to continue playing because I did it all through high school.

CC: What is the greatest challenge you have encountered this season? 

It’s tough finding a lot of people to play in the winter and it was hard trying to get people to join the team. People were focused on starting the new semester and they didn’t want to go out and travel to games.

CC: How do you balance school and being a co-captain?

It’s not a huge responsibility so it’s not super hard, but it’s just managing time and really knowing your schedule well helps so things don’t creep up on you. The games don’t really get in the way of homework assignments because it’s like an hour a weekend, so usually you can set time aside to do your homework and then go to the game.

CC: What are your expectations for the next soccer season?

I’m not sure what to expect yet, but I think we’ll have a lot of people come back and join the team which should be good because a lot more players play in the fall than the winter. I’d like to see us get into a league with other schools like UIC [and] DePaul because right now, we have just been playing rec teams from the city.

CC: What is something interesting you are working on now? 

Probably the band that I’m in is the most interesting thing. We’re called Pine of the Origin. I’m staying here over the summer so that the band can record. I want to see where that goes.