5-sport St. Michael’s star credits football
Fernandez says playing game dominated by males earned her state’s top honor
Jocelyn Fernandez had just returned to her Santa Fe home from a retreat in January when her dad toyed with her emotions — for just a moment.
When Joey Fernandez, the head football coach at St. Michael’s, asked his daughter, “By the way, did you hear that you’re female athlete of the year?” she thought it was another of many honors she received locally.
Jocelyn Fernandez, a St. Michael’s senior, did not know this was something bigger.
“I was like, ‘For what? St. Michael’s? The city?’ ” Jocelyn Fernandez recalled. “Then he said, ‘You’re the New Mexico High School Athlete of the Year [for the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame].’
“I thought he was joking at first, but then I was so happy. I was jumping up and down. I couldn’t believe it.”
What she couldn’t believe four months ago will crystallize Sunday as Jocelyn Fernandez will accept her award and give a speech during the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame banquet at the Albuquerque Convention Center.
Fernandez will not be the only Northern New Mexican to be recognized. Española Valley graduate Adam Kedge will be inducted into the Hall of Fame for his coaching success at Albuquerque Academy in which he led the crosscountry and track and field programs to 25 state titles over the past 20 years.
Fernandez’s selection is a result of the success she accumulated as multisport athlete.
Instead of making a name as the typical three-sport athlete, Fernandez opted for five — soccer, basketball, track and field, softball and football.
While she was an All-District 2-4A player in girls basketball this season and was runner-up in the Class 4A javelin last spring, Fernandez believes her time
on the football field put her over the top.
She had eight catches for 48 yards and caught a touchdown pass in a 55-12 win over Pojoaque Valley. Fernandez also converted 11 out of 12 pointafter kicks, including hitting all seven in a 49-0 win over Santa Fe Indian School.
“I think that is the main reason I got this award,” she said. “You don’t hear about girls playing football and scoring touchdowns. That is what stood out the most, and I worked hard for that.”
Almost as hard as Fernandez worked on her dad to allow her to play the sport that bonds the family. She was an accomplished player growing up in Santa Fe through eighth grade, but coach Fernandez wouldn’t let her play high school football because of the fear of injury since she would be one of the smaller player on the field in a notoriously physical and violent sport.
“It’s your own daughter, so that was a tough thing,” coach Fernandez said. “She was begging me to do it every year.”
The father in him finally relinquished to her and Joey Fernandez did not regret the decision. “For her to have the year she had and to do this thing on the field, I am very proud of her and the accomplishments she had the football field,” he said.
However, Jocelyn Fernandez’s senior year is flying by faster than either father or daughter imagined. Joey Fernandez thought he’d enjoy her senior year more, but August doesn’t seem so far in the past.
“I was thinking, ‘She’s got a whole senior year. I can get to enjoy it,’ ” coach Fernandez said. “But it’s coming to an end now in a month or so. It’s gone by way too quick, so I got to enjoy these moments right now. This [the banquet] is one of the bigger ones.”
More moments are sure to come. Jocelyn Fernandez should be a javelin participant in the Marilyn Sepulveda Meet of Champions on April 16, as her season-best throw of 119 feet at the West Las Vegas Invitational on March 24 is fourth-best in the state.
Then, there is the state track and field championships in May in which Jocelyn Fernandez will be one of the favorites in the javelin and the discus. And following that is graduation.
She wants to continue playing basketball and throwing the javelin in college, and she is looking at a few out-of-state schools as well as New Mexico Highlands (for basketball). Jocelyn Fernandez said she can choose one sport if it comes down to that, but it will be odd for her initially.
“I couldn’t imagine playing one sport,” Jocelyn Fernandez said. “My life would be boring at that point.”