6 Ways to Persuade Someone to Let you Take More Risks

Taking risks is part of sport, and part of life: You won’t excel as an athlete if you don’t take shots that you know may not go into the goal, push harder in a run knowing you may not be able to hold the pace, or opt to try for a triple back handspring instead of sticking with the double.

But taking risks can be scary—and sometimes, well-meaning coaches and caregivers want to hold you back, thinking that it’s for the best. But if you never push yourself, you won’t grow. And if you never fail, you won’t learn.

Here, board-certified family physician and TrueSport Expert Deborah Gilboa, MD, is sharing six ways to persuade coaches and caregivers to let you try the riskier choice—and live with the consequences.

1. Look for opportunities to stress test your resilience or build resilience

To be clear, taking risks doesn’t mean engaging in risky behavior like underage drinking, unsafe driving, or blowing off classes. Rather, taking risks for young athletes may look like stepping up to new leadership positions or suggesting a bold new team strategy. Taking a risk simply means trying something new that, if it goes well, will mean growth and new opportunities for you. But with that potential, there is a chance that you will fail.

Simply put, taking risks means putting yourself in a position where failure is absolutely a possibility. “Risk taking is about giving yourself more opportunities to fail,” says Gilboa. “We talk a lot about wanting to build resilience, and the best way to do that is by having more opportunities to learn through failure.”

2. Know what you really want

It’s not easy to persuade a parent or coach to let you try something new or make a key decision if you don’t actually know what it is you want, says Gilboa. You’re much more persuasive when you know your goal and why it’s worth trying for. As Gilboa says, it’s important to have a clear purpose for the risk, so be sure to ask yourself: What makes it worth it?

3. Ask yourself what could go wrong

Rather than using a simple pros and cons list to assess a risk, Gilboa likes to start with a ‘what could go wrong’ list. “This needs to be a genuine question, not hyperbole or sarcasm,” she says. “I want an athlete to really think about what could go wrong if they take the risk. For example, if you want to be in charge of improving communication and responsiveness within your team during competition, how will you feel if your teammates get mad because the changes you make cause them to lose?”

It sounds scary or self-defeating to imagine what could go wrong, but it’s an important factor in risk-taking. If you aren’t ready to handle the potential downside of the risk, you may not be ready to take that risk.

4. Make the case for your risk

Now, it’s time to present your case to the coach. If you’re asking for a leadership position, or you want the team to start taking more risks in your competitions rather than sticking with the same old strategy, you may need to demonstrate that your plan has merit before a coach will give you the green light.

Gilboa recommends developing a plan to share with your coach or caregiver that outlines the step-wise progression you want to take to get to your goal. “If you’re a diver, you don’t just go from the lowest platform to the highest one,” she says. “You have a long progression as you master skills and gradually step up. How can you slowly increase your risks? The goal should be to step up the risk, not leap up.”

In a team setting, Gilboa adds that taking the coach’s motivations into account can be helpful as well. “If you can explain how this particular solution or risk will get them closer to something they've said that they want, you’re more likely to get a yes,” she says. “You have to show the coach that letting you try this new thing puts them on a path towards a goal you know they have.”