Lou Vickery

Athletics start with the body, but ultimately, it is the nature of the mind that speaks to the level of achievement an athlete experiences in sports. WINNING THE “HEAD” GAME is a mixture of motivational, inspirational and informative works that primarily apply to the “what” and “why,” instead of the “how,” of sports.

      Coach Sonny Smith (former college coach of NBA Hall of Fame player, Charles Barkley) and a member of eight Hall of Fames, along with Lou Vickery, former professional baseball player, have drawn upon their sixty-plus years of involvement in sports, both at the amateur and professional level in the writing of WINNING THE “HEAD” GAME. Their mission is to provide the necessary ingredients to help athletes and coaches build a bridge from where they are to where they would like to go in athletics.

The book is uniquely designed. It includes five parts. Part One: Sonny on Sonny is an autobiographical sketch by Sonny about himself. This affords the reader a chance to get up close and personal with a side of Sonny that very few people have been exposed to, or were aware existed.

Sonny and Lou didn't write WINNING THE "HEAD" GAME for athletes based on their present athletic status and boundaries.  Parts 2 through 5 highlight topics like winning personal traits, goals, attitude, team core values, preparation hanging tough, emotional control, learning from both winning and losing, and other topics bound to jump start an athlete at any level of play. The text is written for those who see themselves as "a work in progress,” who are looking to expand unseen abilities and possibilities, moving potential to reality.