The concept of “Buying In” is something that is mentioned often in sports. “Buy In” refers to the mindset and action that comes from the athlete completely trusting the training philosophy and then following that philosophy without ANY intentional alterations, omissions or complaining about the training program by the athlete. Most athletes struggle to understand that a good and competent coach will alter and change the training program to adapt to an individual athlete's needs. Athletes falsely believe that the program is set from the beginning and won't change. However, the coach can only adapt the training when there is “Buy In”. If a coach must guess what an athlete is or is not doing, then the coach is guessing what the best training should be. To avoid poor training, the key to success is that the athlete must completely “Buy In” to the program and train according to it and then communicate with the coach if the athlete has any issues or confusions or if they feel that the training program doesn’t fit them. For the coach, it is up to the coach to help the athlete understand the training program and then adapt the program, when appropriate. Success is virtually impossible without “Buy In” from the athlete. The athlete is responsible to “Buying In” and communicating to the coach. The coach is then responsible for being receptive to the athlete’s concerns and then finding ways to communicate and/or adapt. The biggest challenge that exists is that coach wants “Buy In” but the coach feels that “forcing” the philosophy on the team or any individual athlete will turn the athletes away. No one likes forcing anyone to do anything and no one likes to be forced to do something. However, “Buy In” is crucial to achieve success. Therefore, if “Buy In” does not come voluntarily by the athletes, it will be forced upon by the coach, which never ends well. Athletes must help themselves, the team and the coach to have success by “Buying In” and then communicating any issues, while doing all they can to avoid complaining.
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