When Mya Felder returns from Lincoln, Nebraska to visit her childhood home in Fresno, CA, there’s a familiar batting cage she finds on the side of the house. Just like her younger days, Felder grabs her bat, takes her hitting stance in front of the cage and swings away as her dad repeatedly tosses each ball in her direction.
This is where Felder’s love for softball was born long before she became a star at the University of Nebraska. Growing up in this Fresno home with parents who are known for their athletic prowess, Felder and her three siblings naturally gravitated towards sports and strengthened their bond through their common interests.
“When we were younger, we all played outside together, we hung out together and that’s just how my parents raised us. We do everything with family,” Felder said. “As we got older , we all got serious about sports. We were able to work out together, so we were never alone. And it was just really fun to be able to have common interests and just support each other in that way.”
Felder first proved herself as a standout softball player at Clovis East High School, becoming a three-time all-conference selection and the TRAC offensive player of the year in 2016. The Fresno native is now continuing to rack up the same type of accolades with the Huskers in Nebraska, where she has been named to the Big Ten All-Tournament Team and Big Ten All-Defensive Team among other honors.
But Felder’s success on the softball field is only one part of her story. The former Clovis East standout is actually more proud of her academic resume, which already includes a master’s degree and a PhD in the works.
Education always comes first in the house of Christine and Reginald Felder, two former student-athletes who prioritized academics before sports during their college days. Christine, a former softball standout, and Reginald, a former football star at New Mexico State, didn’t have to do much preaching to help Mya, Taja, Kado and Dalen understand the importance of education. The couple, who have earned recognition in Fresno for their work as longtime educators, mainly get their message across by serving as an example.
“We just always knew the importance of education and especially higher education, so it wasn’t like a question of whether or not I wanted to go to college or any of us wanted to go to college,” Felder said. “We knew the value of education and how much further that would get us than sports. Just them being educators and both having master’s degrees, it wasn’t a question that education was valuable in our family. When you grow up with it, it’s just kind of a natural thing to value.”
Felder started her collegiate career at New Mexico State in 2019. While pursuing her academic plans in New Mexico, the Central Valley native continued to shine on the softball field. As a freshman, Felder started all 55 games at third base and became named the WAC Freshman of the Year.
The next year, Felder transferred to the University of Oregon and started 17 games in a season disrupted by Covid-19. Coming back for another season at Oregon in 2021, Felder hit .274 with five home runs and 21 RBIs. She also recorded six multi-hit games and five multiple RBI performances that same year.
The star student-athlete obtained her bachelor’s degree at Oregon and continued to strive for more at the University of Nebraska, where she earned her master’s in educational administration.
Now, Felder is tackling the next item on her academic journey: a PhD in Educational Administration With An Emphasis In Higher Education.
“I want to work in college athletic administration,” Felder said. “I have a specific interest in diversity, equity and inclusion and so I just think that being a resource for student athletes and being someone of color in athletic administration can just be a good representation for other student athletes as a resource, someone they can identify with and come up to, so that’s what I want to do with that degree.”
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Each time she steps on the softball field, Felder hopes to inspire other Black girls who may be watching her.
“I remember just seeing women of color in the game and that being inspiring to me and me being like ‘I want to be like her.’ And so, I do know the impact that when a little girl turns on the TV and sees you, how that can be inspiring,” Felder said.
The scholar student-athlete has been advocating for diversity since her days at Clovis East when she was involved with the Black Student Union. It’s not always easy to speak up, Felder says, but she is determined to stay courageous and selfless.
“It’s important for me to speak up and realize that it’s not just about you, it’s about the people that you’re inspiring,” Felder said.
The Nebraska student shows gratitude for the people who came before her, saying “I’m standing on the shoulders of my ancestors.”
She also thanks her family and the rest of her supporters for encouraging her to speak up on important issues.
“Just being able to have a family that is supportive in those kind of things makes it a lot easier to be able to do stuff. And then the teams that I have been a part of are really supportive in those matters,” Felder said. “So when you just have people that value you and support you it makes things like that a lot easier.”
When Felder comes back home, one of the first things on her to do list is to go watch her brothers Dalen and Kado as they battle in their respective sports. Kado, a junior at Washington Union, is playing football and maintaining a 4.25 GPA. Dalen, a freshman at Clovis East, is already proving his skills on the basketball court.
The other Felder protégé, Taja, is in her senior year at the University of Louisville and shining on the softball field like her sister.
As they get older, the Felder siblings are gaining an even greater appreciation for their childhood memories, including their out-of-town trips to tournaments.
“My mom was my coach when we first started doing a little bit of traveling. Not too far away, we’d probably go to like Visalia or Pismo. She coached me through that, so that was a really fun time,” Felder said. “My dad, he is the one who — like when we’re doing extra hitting at batting practice, he took on that role. My mom, she works with my sister on pitching.”
As for the batting cage, Felder is determined to make sure it stays up at her childhood home for as long as possible.
“To be able to have something like that on the side of the house, it’s so convenient for us and so awesome,” Felder said. “That’s just where after practices in high school, weekends, that’s where we spent most of our time, me and my sister. After games, before games, we spent a lot of time on the side of the house.”
