THE RIGHT CALL

From a New York Times bestselling sportswriter, a love letter to extraordinary coaches and athletes, and a primer on the principles of excellence they embody.

Sportswriter and columnist Sally Jenkins spent her whole life literally stamping great coaches and athletes down in letters. But somewhere along the line, she realized, they had begun to write her. Their example could shape her into something better if she paid attention. What she learned from great athletes and coaches is that champions are the product of their own work. This book is an effort to catalog the inner qualities that allow ordinary people to overcome pressure, elevate their performances and find champion identities.

THE RIGHT CALL uses breath-takingly dramatic sports anecdotes featuring the elite coaches and play-makers Steve Kerr, Bill Belichick, Pat Summit, Peyton Manning, and Jill Ellis, Michael Phelps, and Andre Agassi, among others, to illustrate 7 principles which underlie great decision-making. The seven principles (conditioning, practice, discipline, candor, culture, resilience, intention) are each broken down and explored in their own chapters through long-form sports stories. This book is the one stop shop for anyone wanting to learn how to effectively lead and achieve. From sports fans to businesspeople and everyone in between, there is something for any reader ready to elevate their greatness practices.

Sally Jenkins has been a Washington Post columnist and feature writer for more than 20 years. She was twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and was named the winner of the Associated Press Red Smith Award for Outstanding Contributions to Sports Journalism. She has been named a columnist of the year four times each by the Associated Press and is the author of 12 books of non-fiction including The Real All Americans, The State of Jones, and the New York Times bestseller Sum It Up, co-written with the late Summitt. Jenkins also spent seven years as a senior writer for Sports Illustrated magazine, and other work has appeared in Smithsonian,GQ, Tennis Magazine, Golf Digest, and ESPN Magazine. In 2005 she was the first woman to be inducted into the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Hall of Fame. She was presented for induction by her father, the late Dan Jenkins, also a Hall of Famer. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University in 1982 and resides in New York.