Meet Fernanda- the Mind Behind mindgame
Fernanda’s story begins on the field and in the fire.
She’s been playing sports since the age of five, and by seven, she was competing year-round in soccer and softball. Her life revolved around the game, school, practice, quick dinners, homework, repeat. She knew drive, effort, and discipline like second nature. But she also knew emotional chaos. Fernanda was an expert at intensity, the kind that fueled her competitiveness but often consumed her. Her emotions controlled her game. One minute, she was unstoppable; the next, self-destructive. Coaches saw her talent, but they also saw her volatility. Then one day, a college coach said something that would change everything:
“You’re great, but programs won’t want this behavior.”
Those words stuck. They became a turning point. Fernanda went on to play collegiate sports and earn a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology, eventually becoming a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. For nearly two decades, she worked on the front lines of mental health, supervising crisis response teams, training first responders, and speaking on national and international stages about emotional wellness and resilience.
But even with all her professional success, something was missing. She wanted to go back to where it all started: the field, the mat, the court to help the athletes who were just like her: driven, talented, and
Emotionally dysregulated.
That’s when MindGame Athletics was born.
Through MindGame, Fernanda merges 24 years of clinical expertise with a lifetime of athletic experience to empower athletes, parents, and coaches to understand the mental side of performance. Her mission is simple:
to train the mind like the body — with precision, consistency, and purpose.
MindGame Athletics isn’t just a program; it’s a movement. A community where athletes feel heard, parents feel equipped, and coaches feel supported. Because when the mind is right, the game follows.