Haily is a former collegiate track and field and cross-country athlete, with the open 400 meters and relays as her primary events. Her athletic experience began well before college, having competed in several different sports throughout high school.
Her experiences as a young athlete played an important role in shaping her perspective on mental performance. Like many developing athletes, she experienced the pressures, expectations, setbacks, confidence challenges, and personal growth that can come with competitive sport. Those experiences showed her firsthand how much the mental side of performance can influence an athlete's experience and development—and how valuable it can be to introduce mental skills training early.
Today, that perspective continues to influence the way Haily works with athletes. She believes mental performance development should not be reserved for elite or professional performers; young athletes can benefit from learning how to manage pressure, build confidence, respond to setbacks, and develop a healthy relationship with performance from the beginning.
Haily’s approach to mental performance has been shaped by experiencing performance from multiple perspectives.
A Perspective Shaped by Performance
As an Athlete
Haily’s experience as a sports coach and personal trainer has strengthened her understanding of how the brain and body work together to influence performance. Through these experiences, she has seen that physical preparation and mental processes are not separate from one another—they continuously interact to shape how an individual learns, responds, adapts, and performs.
This perspective allows Haily to look beyond physical ability alone and consider the whole performer, recognizing how thoughts, emotions, attention, motivation, and physical readiness can work together to influence performance.
As a Coach & Trainer
Haily’s experience in collegiate athletics has also given her a perspective on performance that extends beyond the individual athlete. As a student-athlete ambassador and SAAC President, she represented student-athletes and worked closely with athletic leadership on issues affecting the broader student-athlete experience.
Through her involvement with the athletic department, Haily contributed to conversations surrounding athletic department culture, conference changes, facility needs and improvements, and other initiatives that shaped the larger athletic environment. These experiences gave her a greater understanding of how decisions, culture, leadership, resources, and support systems can influence the people within an athletic program.
This broader perspective continues to shape Haily’s approach to mental performance. She recognizes that supporting a performer is not only about what happens in an individual session—it is also about understanding the environment, relationships, and systems surrounding that person.
As an Athlete Leader
As a Mental Performance Coach
Today, Haily brings these perspectives together through her work in mental performance. Her experience spans youth, high school, collegiate, and elite performance environments, including her work with athletes at IMG Academy. Working across different levels and stages of development has given her insight into the unique mental demands performers can experience as they grow, compete, and progress through their careers.
Her background in counseling psychology, sport psychology, and motor behavior allows her to approach performance from both the human and performance sides. She considers not only what a performer is trying to accomplish, but also how their thoughts, emotions, experiences, environment, and behaviors can influence the way they perform.
Rather than viewing mental performance as separate from the person, Haily believes the two are inseparable. The goal is not simply to create better performers, but to help people develop the skills, awareness, and resilience to perform at their best while continuing to grow as individuals.
