Data passed between ViewControllers and being Reset?

I'm simply trying to pass an NSInteger between 2 Viewcontrollers and for some reason, the data keeps getting reset. What I mean by reset is as I do the following:

- (void)pickerView:(AKPickerView *)pickerView didSelectItem:(NSInteger)item
{
    PlayViewController *playScreen = [[PlayViewController alloc] init];
    playScreen.playerNumber = item;
    NSLog(@"%d", playScreen.playerNumber);  
}

The NSLog would then print out whatever the index of the chosen object is but once I go to PlayViewController and do the following switch statement:

switch (self.playerNumber){
        case 0:
            theView.playerComment.text = @"You, again";
            playerScores[0]++;
            break;

        case 1:
            if (numberPressed % 2){
                theView.playerComment.text = @"Player 2's Turn";
                playerScores[0]++;
            }
            else {
                theView.playerComment.text = @"Player 1's Turn";
                playerScores[1]++;
            }
            break;
 and so on.... the code would always receive 0 as the value of playerNumber...

Also, in PlayViewController.h, the variable player number is declared as such:

@property (nonatomic) NSInteger playerNumber;