A Hempfield Area eighth-grader’s football skills are earning her a name among the pros.
Madalyn “Mads” Pevarnik, 13, who attends Harrold Middle School, will be featured on the NFL Network after Monday night’s Steelers game against the Chicago Bears, according to her family. The flag football safety and wide receiver talked shop with Steelers linebacker Devin Bush in a segment filmed outside their home.
“(Bush) just could not get over how she knew football terms,” said mother Elizabeth Pevarnik.
Mads said she enjoyed her chat with Bush and noted having NFL fans across the nation listen in on their conversation is “really cool.”
Her flag football teammates think so as well.
“They’re posting it on social media,” she said.
The young athlete, who herself has come back from knee surgery, was most interested in learning about Bush’s recovery from injuries.
She advises younger girls who are interested in playing flag football to be prepared to work hard if they want to excel in the sport.
Her hard work has paid off with plenty of touchdowns and interceptions.
“I had at least one interception in every game last year,” she said.
Also involved in basketball and softball, she’s been playing flag football for about eight years already.
“I’m hoping flag football becomes part of college sports and also a high school sport,” she said.
Mads plays on a youth flag football team with Gridiron Football, something she’s been doing since she was 5. She has attended camps with former Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch for years, which Pevarnik said is likely how she was hooked up with the NFL Network.
Or maybe it was her skills on the field.
“She’s extremely athletic and very good at it,” Pevarnik said.
Both Mads and Bush made some of their football plays available for producers, and they went back and forth talking about them for the segment. There will be a teaser on ESPN’s Monday Night countdown with more details about when the segment will air after the game, Pevarnik said.
“This was a really neat experience for her,” she said.
Mads was confident and comfortable talking with Bush, making Pevarnik and her husband Buddy proud.
The family plans to have a few people over to watch the game and segment. Mads does not have a bedtime tonight, her mother said.
The league this season has highlighted a youth football player each week as part of its “Next Generations” series, which pairs a youth player up with one of the league’s current stars to talk about each other’s plays on the NFL Network. Steelers defensive tackle Cam Heyward participated in a segment with a player at a high school east of State College.
“Next Generations” is part of the NFL Way to Play initiative. Now in its third year, the program is designed to show proper playing technique to protect players from unnecessary risk, showcase youth and high school teams and discuss the values of football, such as character, leadership, resilience and teamwork. To learn more, visit playfootball.nfl.com.
Travis Burnett
A pioneer in the flag football community, Travis helped co-found the Flag Football World Championship Tour, FlagSpin and USA Flag. Featuring 15+ years of content creation for the sport of flag football, creating and managing the largest flag football tournaments on the planet, coaching experience at the youth and adult level as well as an active player with National and World Championship level experience.
