What separates great athletes from good athletes goes beyond physical skills, years of dedicated practice, and gifted genetics. While those are certainly important, the best of the best will tell you that mindset and mental preparation played just as important a role as physical preparation in their success.
On a recent episode of Influencers Radio with Jack Mize, Psychologist and Mental Game Coach Dr. Delice Coffey discussed how she is helping junior high, high school, college, and semi-professional basketball players to elevate their game by educating and empowering them to be the best version of themselves so that they can soar to the top in sports and life.
During the interview, Dr. Coffey explained why so many of the greatest athletes attribute mental preparation to their ability to perform at those highest levels, saying, “What separates the good athletes from the elite athletes is their mental game. And what I mean by that is when athletes get to the level where they’ve put in their 10,000 hours, have trained over and over again, and have put in so much time developing their physical skills so they’re super great. But what happens is everyone at that level has put in the time and the work. They’re all great. So, the thing that’s going to separate them is how well they can focus, how well they can maintain composure, and whether they can get that mental edge during very difficult times when the competition is really close. It’s the mindset that will separate them and have the good athletes become great athletes and winning over and over again.”
Dr. Coffey played organized sports in junior high and high school. Having always admired elite athletes and wanting to be one herself, she became an International Table Tennis Champion in college. After college, she started bodybuilding, eventually switching to powerlifting. As a result of her ability to focus and visualize what she wanted, she won several local competitions and went on to break ten North Carolina State records, the APA national record, and the APA world record, all while working as a Psychologist in the clinical field.
After doing clinical work for over two decades, Dr. Coffey started studying sports psychology and realized that her natural ability to focus and visualize is a science that can be taught, and she wanted to learn how to teach others.
Today, as the Founder of Living Well n Sport & Life and the D. Coffey Foundation for Athletics and Education, Dr. Coffey specializes in sport and clinical psychology and is dedicated to improving the overall well-being of young athletes, both mentally and physically.
Dr. Coffey is also the author of “An Athlete’s Guide to Peak Performance Series,” which includes two books, “Building Confidence” and “Focus Like A Champion,” as well as “Mindfulness & Guided Imagery Audio.”
To listen to the full interview, visit https://influencersradio.com/dr-delice-coffey
To learn more about Dr. Delice Coffey, visit http://MindsetSportsPsychology.com
