Cheerleader becomes a wide receiver

KALISPELL, Mont. – Flathead High School head football coach Russell McCarvel admits he was dumbfounded when senior Kayla Nash informed him she had menstrual cramps and she needed to be excused from the day’s practice.

“Coach told me to go home and ‘fix it,’ ” Nash laughed, remembering the moment.

“Well, that was a first for me,” McCarvel remarked to his assistants afterward.

She certainly isn’t the first football player to miss a practice, but the first in her coach’s experience to miss one for that reason.

Nash, a 5-7, 145-pound cheerleader-turned-wide receiver, is a first for a lot of people – and for the Flathead football program.

According to longtime Flathead coach and teacher Dan Hodge, Nash is the first girl to turn out for Braves football – let alone play in a varsity game, in his 30-plus years at Flathead High School.

Nash hasn’t scored, but she has played in at least a couple of games this season – in Flathead’s 42-21 win over Missoula Big Sky and the Braves’ 49-13 victory last weekend over crosstown rival Glacier High School.

She’s having the time of her life.

For the record, that’s the only practice she’s missed.

“It’s been an adventure, all the plays, where to line up, blocking. I’ve learned a lot,” she said.

There were many nights that she’s laid in bed studying the Flathead offense.

“For the first two weeks, that was the only thing going through my head. There’s never not something you’re not learning.

“I really like (football), although I don’t play much. I’m not really in it for playing time,” she said.

Practices have been tough – she likened wearing the 20 pounds of gear to running “with our cousin on our shoulder.

“I’ve jammed all my fingers, I thought I broke my thumb … It’s a lot of fun. You get pushed and shoved. I have been hit. Josh Harris was the first guy to hit me,” she added.

That came when she filled in for running back Charlie Dotson during practice.

“They threw me the ball. Josh (who didn’t know it was Nash) came up from my blind side, threw me back 10 feet and landed on me.

“It felt like you got hit by a car, then a ton of bricks fell on you,” she said.

Joining the football team was a spur-of-the-moment decision.

“It started out as a joke,” she said. “We were trying to get my brother (Cody) to go out.”

She had no experience with football, hadn’t even watched much, but she offered to go out with him.

“My mom e-mailed the coach that night,” she said.

McCarvel’s answer was there wasn’t any reason she couldn’t play.

“The thing I tried to do was just treat her like anybody else. I’ve tried to be as normal with her as any other player,” McCarvel said.

“I think she’s having a good time. She’s done a good job of trying to be as normal as things can be,” the coach said.

“There are a few things we’ve had to work around. We have to do a few things differently, but nothing major.

“Overall, she has done her best to be sure she was just like any other player,” McCarvel said.

“She knows our offense. She can get in there and do things,” the coach said.

“I think it’s a good feather in her cap. It’s not for all females, but hats off to her for doing it, that’s for sure,” he said.

“(McCarvel) was really nice about it. They did tell me I had to gain some weight,” Nash said.