The boys’ college football program at Wellington High School is represented by its own personal social media representative, sophomore Ava McDevitt. She’s perfectly qualified for the job because she’s a good photographer and also plays soccer — as a member of defense, usually at right-back, for the Wellington High School girls’ junior team.
McDevitt has been taking high school football pictures since eighth grade. She focuses on one social media platform – Instagram. Grip is @wellingtonhighsoccer. In addition to posting pictures and videos on Instagram, some of the pictures she takes are also used by the school’s yearbook staff.
According to McDevitt, her video posts on Instagram are short and to the point.
“I use boomerangs that are three to five seconds long and repeating,” McDevitt explained. “Videos of goals are usually longer, around 15 seconds.”
If you can’t attend a varsity game, you can often catch highlights on Instagram while the game is being played.
“I’m posting highlights on my phone while the games are on so folks at home who couldn’t make it can be kept up to date,” McDevitt said.
Wellington High School head football coach Chris Carrera appreciates the support his team receives from McDevitt, who is on the same sidelines as Carrera during college games.
“Ava has been photographing for the soccer team for about three years,” Carrera said. “She has been helping us with our social media account for two years. Thanks to her, we have doubled our followers every year. She organizes the posts and makes sure we have flyers for every event and game we host. Thanks to their dedication and love of the sport, we’ve also been able to increase the number of students attending our home games. Ava has become an important team member and we are truly fortunate to have her support as our social media guru.”
McDevitt’s passion for photography began when she was in elementary school.
“I’ve been interested in photography since I got an iPod in third grade,” McDevitt said. “I started taking pictures from my iPod and eventually slowly upgraded. I do it with pleasure.”
Now she uses a Canon camera.
When asked if this work for Wellington High School’s football program is a precursor to a professional sports photographer, she’s open to the idea.
“Hopefully I’ll always love taking pictures,” McDevitt said.
Is it possible that McDevitt will work as a social media guru for the next men’s soccer world cup in North America in 2026? she could. After all, she enjoyed following what was happening at this year’s World Cup in Qatar. No doubt she would have enjoyed making a few posts on Instagram if she had been there, with her trusty Canon camera and phone at hand.
