Written by Amaru Gomez (Class of 2025)

Meet Chris Povlin, Ben Davis’ event facility coordinator. Povlin explains what his job entails.

“I pretty much handle all sporting events making sure that each team has a team to play and a facility to play at. All the schedules on event-link all of that is handled by me,” Povlin said.

He further explains how he makes the schedules go smoothly.
“I also make sure that all the facilities, so all the gym spaces and the fields, are rented correctly so nobody is on top of each other for multiple, different events,” Povlin said.

Povlin graduated from Ben Davis in 2009 and his career has been interesting.
“Right after high school, I went to college for about a year for elementary education to become an elementary teacher for special needs and my mother got breast cancer in my first four months,” he said. “So I dropped out of school to come back home to supplement income in order for her to go through treatment so I went straight to the workforce.”

He ended up landing here after 15 years but he explains why he wanted to come back.
“Ben Davis, in my years it was a great environment with lots of friends, good times and hanging out and great staff,” he said. “Everything was just a really good vibe. It’s kind of like you think of working for a township, working for a high school, impacting communities and things like that.”

“When the opportunity came up to work for the township, especially getting into the social content creating part of it, it was pretty much a no brainer. Getting back to my home, to my roots, to where I started what really built me as a human and as a man getting back into that being able to offer that to everybody else that’s here.’’

Povlin also talks about how his four years at Ben Davis went.
“My four years were quick and harmless,” Povlin said. “I was in the marching band all four years, I marched baritone and tuba through the years. I went to the sports game but the marching band was a whole different beast. Very time consuming but kept you outta trouble.”

Povlin explains how he got into videography.
“So it actually started a little over 10 years ago getting a camera and I started recording simple things,” he said. “Then about seven years ago I filmed a wedding, then it’s been seven years of weddings and then into the sports field. It took off and then I started my business.”

Povlin talks about his creative process when it comes to videography.
“It takes a lot of forward thinking, you have to be able to think about what the final step looks like and then work backwards. It reminds me of a maze. Believe it or not it becomes ten times as easy to finish the maze if you’re working from the finish to the start,” he said. “I think of what I want the video to be, then I work backwards so then I’ll know what time, supplies, what space I need.”

He then talks about what he likes to shoot.
“I enjoy shooting anything that is high energy,” he said. “If it’s a big hit in football or a game winning three in basketball. The highlight of the game is that I like the high energy. But as time has progressed it has become less of what I enjoy shooting. It’s become the reason behind why I’m shooting. Its exposure, it’s getting people to be seen where they wouldn’t normally be seen.”

Povlin said his job is about  content creation.
“Content creation is different for people,” he said. “There are a lot of people that look at it like what’s the benefit for me. But when you get to the finer details of it, the normal audience is going to see the same thing that every photographer shot. How can you set yourself differently for that moment? It's what sets the photographer away from the storyteller,” Povlin said.

Povlin’s wife was a cheerleader at BD and sports editor of the yearbook.
“Me and my wife have been together for 15 years and married for seven,” he said. “I have a beautiful five year old daughter and that alone changes your hobbies and likings. You start living for a whole other reason.”

“I’m a people pleaser so anything my child wants to do I want to do. I enjoy doing whatever she wants to. I’m a family man. If it includes me it’s gonna include my child and my wife.”

Povlin likes being successful.
“The biggest thing to success is to be able to step out of your comfort zone and do something different,” he said. “You have 15 minutes on your phone or 15 minutes to be productive. If you ask me, I’m going to be productive. I’m going to be ahead of whomever -- I’m going to be ahead of whomever’s on their phone.”