NorthWood High School Director of Athletic Performance Servando Duran, left, works with freshman Paisley Hummel during a recent advanced, physical-conditioning class inside the school’s activities center. InkFreeNews photo by Keith Knepp.

By Keith Knepp
InkFreeNews

NAPPANEE — Having a full-time staff member dedicated to the strength and conditioning of student-athletes is a relatively new thing at the high school level. In the past, the tasks of getting players ready for the season usually fell on the coaches of each individual sport. In the past decade or so, that has been changing in many area schools.

At NorthWood, Servando Duran is nearing the end of his second year as the school’s director of athletic performance.

Duran grew up on the south side of Chicago where he was a multi-sport athlete. He went on to play college football at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, where he not only earned a bachelor’s degree in exercise science, but also met his future wife, Morgan, who played basketball at the school.

While doing a summer internship at RightFit Performance, LaGrange, Ill., Duran realized he wanted to stay in athletics. Ultimately, he returned to St. Ambrose to earn his master’s degree in exercise physiology with a focus in strength and conditioning.

Duran continued to work several internships at various schools across the country, including at the University of Minnesota and the University of Central Florida.

His first official job was at the University of Akron, which began shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of circumstances, he soon moved to Barton College in North Carolina as assistant director of athletic performance and director of applied sports science.

In 2022, Duran and his wife wanted to move closer to their families in the Midwest. During his job search, he came across the position at NorthWood.

“I noticed that a lot of high schools in (northern Indiana) had full-time strength coaches,” he said. “You don’t see that everywhere.”

Although Duran didn’t have a lot of experience working with high school students, he was offered the position at NorthWood, which has worked out wonderfully for both him and the school.

“When I came in here, I thought it was just Xs and Os; how do I get athletes to win and teams to win, and strictly be an athletic-minded individual,” he said. “After my first year here, I realized that’s only part of the puzzle. There’s so much more to high school athletics. That goes to school unity, leadership, working with community members — how can we help each other build upon our goals and success.”

During the school day, Duran oversees five advanced physical conditioning classes, which are available to all NorthWood students, not just athletes in all four grade levels and from a variety of experience and backgrounds.

“I had to transform my coaching style from purely athletics to a student and education base, as well,” he said. “I needed to create an environment and a culture where everyone would feel welcomed, everyone feels like they can have goals and have support from each other. It’s been a great opportunity and experience figuring that out.”

Another big part of Duran’s role at NorthWood is establishing “healthy movement patterns” and provide education to students and student-athletes on not only how to train and improve performance, but also to take care of their bodies and build habits, including sleep and nutrition.

“They see me for 70 minutes a day,” he said. “When they go home or go to class, the rest of the day is on their own. (I teach them) how can they take care of themselves without me being there. Education is important. It goes a long way towards injury reduction.

“Most of the athletes at NorthWood participate in multiple sports. We take a unified approach to develop the whole human body, athletically. We work on developing their strength levels and keeping them healthy. It’s been fun not only being able to program them and train them physically, but also learn how to motivate them.”

Duran said he works hard to make all students feel confident and accepted, regardless of their experience and ability.

“NorthWood is a truly a unique and special place,” he said. “The family atmosphere and close, tight-knit environment is something I value a lot.”

The Durans have a 4 and 1/2 month old daughter and live in the Warsaw area.