When people would think of the school expanding, they think of the class size, the new teachers, the lunches, and the student body, but no one would think of sports and how they are affected by it.

      With the larger size of the school and the interest in sports rising, team numbers are at an all time high. Then again, so are the numbers of people on the bench or being cut from the team because of it.

      Boys soccer hit a new high this year with 90 boys going for their summer workouts, despite earlier years’ generally having around the mid 50’s. This growth also led the number of boys cut from the team higher than what is preferred by the coaches, making the tryout weeks stressful not only for the boys, but for the coaches as well.

      “That’s a week to two weeks of agony.” boys soccer head coach Brian Prange said. “Once you get to know the athletes during the summer in a personal aspect to a point, It’s hard. You’ve seen how they’ve grown through the summer. It’s hard. I lose sleep. The coaches lose sleep. Because we’re going through every player over and over.”

       The girls soccer team has the problem, hitting another record high this year of 74 players at tryouts, causing the coaches to make more cuts than they are used to. To be precise, 16 cuts from the team, which adds stress onto the coaches, not just soccer in general.

      “Honestly, it’s the worst day of the school year for myself, “ girls soccer head coach Michael Brady said. “It’s absolutely awful to tell someone who loves soccer. That they can’t play for their high school. My heart goes out to the players because it’s awful to tell them they can’t play for their high school. The last thing I would want to do as a teacher and a coach is to take away their love of something.”

      In comparison to football which doesn’t cut, the numbers have risen to put them over 115 in just JV and Varsity, only being able to dress 75 players a game now for safety, and 78 freshman players. The football coaches don’t have to worry about who they cut, but how they are going to manage the size and new dress list; something Noblesville hasn’t done before. Despite this difficulty, their head coach, would rather have more players and be a no cut team to allow all the players a chance to be a player.

      “I think it’s easier just because of the fact that I want every one young man who wants to play football, to play football,” football head coach Lance Scheib said. “I wish every sport was that way. You get one chance in high school. Athletics has done so much for my life in opening up so many doors. I have never thought about being a coach that cuts team, I just want everyone to have an opportunity to play. He may grow, and he may become valuable to our team, and I don’t want to lose out on that.”

     As the school continues to grow in size, coaches are forced to make difficult decisions and try new things to keep as many players as they possibly can to let each student have a chance at something they love. Coaches try their hardest to keep everyone they can, and give them the chance they deserve.