Tall but excited freshman Hayden Kipp walked the halls of Niles West, taking in the change that comes from being in a school with 14 students to a school with nearly ten times as many. 

Having played previous feeder sports, and planning on continuing with sports, it helped ease the transition because having that team gave off a great friend group.

“It was harder going from a school with 14 kids to about 700 [students in my grade], so I knew the basketball team and that’s about it. That quickly changed because I met sophomore Jimmy Brocar,” Kipp said.

Although Kipp was excited, instead of being all that he hoped it would be, the football season began with a rocky start due to his transition from the freshmen football team to the sophomore football team.

“A lot of the freshman hated me because I was on sophomore football instead of freshmen. It didn’t really bother me, but the other freshman didn’t like it because they thought I was betraying them because I had a choice between the teams,” Kipp said.

Brocar and Kipp became fast friends in the midst of Kipp’s struggle to be accepted by both grades. 

“I approached him during football because he was a freshman coming up to the sophomore team and I wanted to make him feel welcome. After a while, we just became really close and he is still one of my best friends that I hope to continue to play football with,” Brocar said.

Kipp is a three-sport athlete, but now being injured, volleyball season has to be put aside but Kipp hopes to get right back into the swing of things as soon as possible.

“Sports are all I do, but now I’m injured. I was playing in a travel tournament and I chased the ball out of bounds and I slammed into a wall. My coach kept me in the game and then I played another game. The people on the volleyball team don’t talk to me as much because I’m not playing. It makes me feel that being hurt is obviously better.” Kipp said.

A new friend and volleyball teammate, freshman Jack Shimabukuro got close with Hayden because of the ongoing season. 

“We got close because the team comradery brought us all together. I hope that our team still treats him like a teammate because he is a part of the team and he’s still going to be my friend,” Shimabukuro said.

Although the injury is a setback, Kipp hopes to continue playing these sports in the future throughout the rest of high school.

“I want to finish high school playing football, basketball, and volleyball with my friends. I would like to be a three-sport athlete and succeeding academically with my best friends, and teammates by my side,” Kipp said.