No ‘Flash’ In The Pan: Central athletics director leaving for Franklin Central

Over the past three years, Nathan VanDeventer has gained valuable experience as a coach, event manager, assistant athletics director and middle school athletics director.

Next week, the 2017 Columbus North graduate will take what he has learned and apply it to his new role as co-athletics director at Franklin Central Junior High.

VanDeventer spent the past year as athletics director at Central Middle School, which has about 900 students. Franklin Central Junior High has about 1,700 students in Grades 7 and 8.

“With 1600-1700 kids, it’s almost like a small 4A (high) school,” VanDeventer said. “The size of the school was very eye-approaching to me. Working with a team up there, I have another AD with me at the junior high, and (high school athletics director) Sandra Walter, being in the same system as her, with all of the experience and connections that she has, that was very appealing. I look forward to learning from her and growing into my AD profession.”

Walter, a former athletics director at Hamilton Southeastern and Lawrence Central, is moving back into the high school ranks after serving as assistant commissioner for the IHSAA for the past decade. VanDeventer will work with co-athletics director Jacob Smalley at the middle school level.

“We worked with each other last year when I was at Central,” VanDeventer said. “We competed against each other in a couple sports. He is very professional. We had good talks, and I’m really excited to work with him. We‘ll split up a lot of the duties, but we really work together as a team, and that was appealing, getting back working as a team and tackling tasks together. I think it will be a really big team effort.”

Former Columbus North assistant athletics director Nate VanDeventer watches a junior varsity volleyball match against Shelbyville at Columbus North High School in Columbus, Ind., Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020.

The Republic file photo

A former basketball, baseball and tennis player at North, VanDeventer has been the Unified track and field coach and event manager at his alma mater and was the assistant athletics director there for the 2020-21 school year. While at Central last year, he also worked as event manager for several sports at Columbus East and worked football and basketball games for Carmel, where former North athletics director Jeff Hester is the assistant athletics director.

VanDeventer has a business management degree from IUPUC and career specialist permit from Ivy Tech. He earned his registered athletic administrator license from the the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association in April.

VanDeventer plans to move to the Greenwood area to be closer to Franklin Central, which is on the southeast side of Indianapolis. He eventually hopes to become a high school athletics director.

“That is my end goal,” VanDeventer said. “That’s a huge passion of mine. Getting to the size of school as Franklin Central, even if it’s just a junior high, where the large school feel is something that I’ve dreamed about ever since I got into the profession has always been a really big goal of mine.”

Reflecting on his time in Columbus, VanDeventer is thankful for the things he has been able to learn and the people he has been able to meet.

“I’ve learned almost everything here at Central,” VanDeventer said. “I’m by myself here, so just the relationship side with coaches, teachers, the whole administration team, scheduling. It’s been a lot of fond memories here. Just learning to manage the size of school as Central was huge. I’ll always cherish my time here at Central and even my time at North. Being a former student and former athlete, coming back right out of high school and earning my degree, I can’t say ‘Thank you’ enough to everyone around me to everyone that has supported me. I have nothing but love for the city of Columbus.”