In just her second year on campus, sophomore forward Trinity Byars has managed to establish herself as one of the best players on campus with her Big 12-leading scoring ability. Byars works hard to be great, already managing to create an impressive resume for herself as a star both at Texas and on the international scene.

Sports run in the Byars family. The daughter of Agatha and Charles Byars, one of Trinity’s four siblings, Tatyana, held a spot with the Longhorns as a defensive midfielder in 2018. One of her cousins, Robert Barnes, played football for Oklahoma as a five-star linebacker in the class of 2017. The familial love of sports rubbed off on Byars, giving her the itch to compete.

“We’ve always been competitive,” Byars said. “We still are to this day with anything. … I get really competitive.”

Byars began playing soccer at 4 years old for a city league team and went on to play her entire youth career for Solar FC, the national powerhouse club team sponsored by Adidas and coached by Derek Missimo, the father of Byars’ dynamic partner on the pitch, sophomore midfielder Lexi Missimo. 

“I don’t think I would be the player I am today without Solar and Derek,” Byars said. “They really impacted me and helped me become the player I am today, working on me before practice (and) after practice. I really respect him for that.”

Byars isn’t just a stellar athlete in the domestic soccer scene, but she’s also an accomplished athlete for Team USA. Byars started at the U-14 level and just finished playing with the U-20 team Aug. 17 in Costa Rica for the Women’s World Cup. Byars has spent a large portion of her life playing for the national team and credits it with her excellent technical ability on the field.

“It really helped shape me into the player I am today,” Byars said. “Just learning the little things and nailing those, working on those day in and day out, I think it really helps me perform.”

Byars also takes pride in representing African American girls on the soccer pitch, offering herself as a role model to other women that want to see someone that looks like them excel at their craft. Through her excellence, she hopes to inspire more African American girls and promote diversity in what is a predominantly white sport.

“Serena Williams (had) a huge impact for all African American youth players in any sport, so I feel like being able to play at this level hopefully impacts our youth,” Byars said. “I think (the youth soccer scene) is continuing to grow with diversity, so I think that’s good to look forward to in the future.”

While Byars often makes playing soccer look effortless, she puts in tireless work off the pitch to make it look that way. She works relentlessly at her craft, aiming to help her teammates as best as she can and lead her team to wins.

Despite all of the pressure placed on her — even more so with Missimo going down with an ankle injury against TCU — Byars pushes through. Byars will look to add to her resume throughout her sophomore season and lead the Longhorns to their first Big 12 title in over two decades.

Head coach Angela Kelly has not been shy about relying on her star player to provide the spark for Texas’ offense, and while soccer is a team sport, Kelly knows how noteworthy her sophomore striker is.

“We have a host of special players,” Kelly said. “But Trinity is a very special player.”