We were lucky to catch up with Mona Pretorius De Lacey recently and have shared our conversation below.

Mona, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s talk about innovation. What’s the most innovative thing you’ve done in your career?

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I want to share the backstory of how I became an international athlete preparing for major international competitions and a business owner of Helping Psychology (Mental Performance Coach) and co-owner of Lift Big Eat Big (Weightlifting Coach).

It all started at a very young age with my passion for sports. I grew up in a house where strength training was a part of our blood. The first sport I competed in at an international level was where I became a 6x World Champion and a 3rd Dan Black Belt in Karate. Although sport was a big part of our life, I wasn’t always the most talented. I had to work really hard and train for long hours to become a good athlete. With this, I had to keep my academic marks high to get into a good university where I could further my studies to achieve my Honors Degree in Sport Psychology.

My passion as an athlete and the hard work I needed to put in to achieve my goals carried over to my current sport, Olympic Weightlifting, which I have been doing for 22 years. I have numerous records and international medals under my belt, but my proudest would be the Commonwealth Games Medal I won in 2018.
I knew I wanted to do something that connected my passion for Sport Psychology (Mental skills training) and my sport. I owned a CrossFit & Weightlifting gym back in 2012, where I had to balance being a gym owner with competing at a top level. Now I am currently seeing athletes both improve and be better Weightlifters and their mental side as a Mental Performance Coach.

I have always loved working with people, and I believe my background as an athlete carries over well. I can now combine what I learned in my years of studying with what I have known as an athlete and a coach.

I decided in 2018 to go fully online with my businesses. Although I still travel and present seminars in Weightlifting and Sport Psychology, the majority of my work happens online. I have always loved working with athletes and now businesses on both the mental side of things to help them set goals, overcome barriers and become the best version of themselves and on the physical side of things (being an Olympic weightlifting coach).

I coach all levels of athletes ranging from beginner to advanced. I also work with youth all the way to master’s athletes. My goal is to be the best coach I can be to all of my athletes, teaching them the skills I have learned over years and years of being an international athlete and learning from the best coaches.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I believe my resiliency has come from a very young age by exposing myself to the things that are hard, things that would make me grow and become a better athlete, student and person. Iv’e always had a no quit mentality and even though it’s hard at times I would really have to put my head down and do the work. Being in elite sports for over 20 years has probably taught me the most when it comes to resiliency and dealing with tough situations. There are many downs in an international athletes life, but if you work hard and work smart and you have a goal you are working towards, I defnitely believe you will reach those goals. But, those goals won’t always come without dissapoinment.

My biggest achievement in my sport was when I won my commonwealth games medal. For those of you that don’t know, the commonwealth games is the second biggest event to the olympics. It also only happens once every four years. But it took me having to qualify four times to reperesent my country at the games, more than 16 years to stand on that podium. I had 2 very bad international experiences at the 2010 and 2014 commonwealth games. I then came back after another four years of hard work, making sure my mind and body stays healthy, being demotivated and feeling like I want to quit or even retire to break that mold and to achieve the biggest achievement I have ever experienced by having the best day on the platform and getting to stand on that podium with the medal around my neck.

Very much like my sport, I had to work really hard in school to get good grades, to get into a good university to then completing my Honors Degree in Sport Psychology. I did all of this whilst competing at the highest international level in sport. Again, this pushed me out of my comfort zone daily. I had to prove people wrong but mostly I wanted to prove to myself that I can do whatever I put my mind to. There are many other stories I could share that has added to my resilency by I think these two defnitely stand out for the most.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Even though I am an introvert. I have never shied away from a challenge. I have always made a point to make connections with people I would see as my role model or people who have made it in the industry. I have always wanted to leave a legacy behind and I knew the only way I could do that is if I do things that pushes me out of my comfort zone and do the things that I believe can help make someone’s life better. May it be on the mental performance side of things or as a weightlifting coach, helping an athlete achieve the highest goals he/she sets out for themselves. I want to do what it takes to be the best coach/mentor I can be and to live by example. I have been told that even with all of my sporting and life achievements I am not someone to walk around with a chip on my shoulder. I don’t believe that is how you build your reputation. You build your reputation with hard work, motivation, inspiration, and doing the unthinkable when people think you can’t do it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://liftbigeatbig.com/olympic-weightlifting/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/powerfulpretorius/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/monapretorius
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mona-pretorius-de-lacey-b8a534a4/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/MonaPretorius
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeQdcKJWI6TQAoVpUoktFkQ
• Other: Helping Psychology Website: https://helpingpsychology.com/

Image Credits
Underthebarwl Captured by Kurt 6 for 6 Media