Understanding Burnout in Sports

Burnout

• Burnout is often caused by doing the same thing repeatedly without seeing results
• Burnout symptoms include lack of passion, physical/mental fatigue, emotionality, lack of connection to responsibilities, and feelings of low success

Implications of Burnout

• Burnout prevents coaches or players from performing their duties optimally
• Intense and recurring burnout can impact the physical and mental health of players and coaches
• Further implications include unplanned weight changes, depression, poor sleep, suppressed immunity
• Burnout is a key reason coaches leave sports

Causes of Burnout

• Chronic stress and high-stress levels can cause burnout
• Dissatisfaction with environmental stressors, such as pressure to win, travel, or disagreements with management, can cause burnout
• Juggling multiple roles can cause burnout
• Heightened or conflicting demands in the sports world result in burnout
• An "out of sync" and maladaptive interaction between the person and the situation
• Individual perception of demands, available resources, and expected consequences can cause burnout
• Lack of control over achieving goals and ineffective coping skills lead to burnout

Strategies for Fighting Coach Burnout

• Monitor your body and emotions, take time to relax or recharge when feeling fatigued
• Recognize uncharacteristic emotions (mood swings) as a sign of burnout
• Take short breaks, such as a half-day away, for well-being
• Renewal during the off-season by spending time with family and friends is helpful
• Maintain connections with supportive individuals
• Take short breaks and reach out to mentors, loved ones, or friends
• Staying connected can help fight the symptoms of coaching burnout
• Plan ahead by ensuring accommodations, like hotels, have breakfast or fitness centers for physical readiness
• Delegate tasks to assistant coaches or team captains
• Stay involved with coaching organizations which can help prevent burnout
• Feelings of being disconnected can be remedied by attending coaching clinics to learn new techniques and tips
• Networking can help with feelings of isolation

Stress Management

• Establish a balance between professional and personal life
• Set personal and professional goals and create a plan to achieve them
• Control inner dialogue by modifying negative thoughts

Other Burnout Prevention

• Balance expectations before taking a coaching job
• High-profile positions come with expectations
• Consider the impact on health, family, and friends before quickly accepting a job
• Regularly leave the office, disconnect from technology, and avoid sport-related discussions
• Consider professional assistance for health problems or negative issues at home

Preparing for a Big Competition

• Athletes must perform at their best
• The best athletes can excel when it matters most
• Athletes must overcome psychological and emotional challenges
• Big competitions involve quantitatively (better opponents, venue) and qualitatively (pressure, distractions) factors
• Emotions such as worry, fear, and frustration impede performance
• Athletes often shift from focusing on the process to focusing on the outcome, which is not beneficial
• Athletes move away from the game and only care about winning

Practical Implications

• It’s is important to keep things simple: KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid)
• Sports are complicated, and athletes focus on what to learn
• Complexity increases as athletes face stronger emotions, distractions, and stakes during important competitions
• Complications can overwhelm athletes
• Athletes need to return to basic process goals, showing they can remain grounded before competing
• Athletes should "Dance with the one who brought you"
• Athletes should resist the urge to "step up" or "raise their game", and stick to what got them to the important event
• Elite athletes should ignore what is outside their control
• Athletes should develop and follow a practical plan
• A "Plan B" should be in place

Flexibility and Adaptability

• Athletes need to adapt due to the unpredictable nature of sports
• Expect the unexpected in big competitions
• Prevent unexpected events by anticipating and planning for them
• List possible issues and develop solutions
• Have a prepared response for unexpected events

Imagery

• Athletes can use imagery to prepare
• Imagery can be used to create a realistic competitive environment
• Adapting to different conditions
• Mastering technical/tactical aspects
• Maintaining consistency
• Overcoming the unexpected
• Planning when ahead or behind
• Executing a plan

Pre-Competition Routines

• Pre-competition routines ensure preparation
• Routines help athletes focus on what they can control
• Routines help create predictability
• Routines help optimize every contributor

Mindfulness

• Normal routines aren't sufficient
• Big competitions consist of practical, perceived, and social factors
• Mindfulness is distraction from pressure
• Mindfulness matches well with big events
• A framework exists for managing thoughts in preparation

Visualization

• Visualization can be better than a workout
• Mental rehearsal helps
• Aids in skill acquisition, aids in warm-up and develops confidence
• Develops feel
• Develops automaticity

Imagery in Practice

• Individuals should engage in imagery out of their own eyes and be positive
• Imagery can be individual, situational ("What if" scenarios) and should be repeated regularly
• Imagery needs to be systematic to enhance performance
• Random imagery is not systematic
• Imagery is a mental training tool
• CONTROLABILITY: ability to imagine exactly what one intends
• VIVIDNESS: how clearly one can see an image
• Multisensory images enhance performance
• Perspective differentiates imagery
• EXTERNAL IMAGERY PERSPECTIVE: the image from outside with a video camera
• INTERNAL IMAGERY PERSPECTIVE: the image from inside the body

Effectiveness of Imagery

• Imagery can be effective using both internal and external perspectives
• Kinesthetic imagery is best experienced using internal
• Athletes should practice both perspectives
• Athletes should perform skill and immediately close their eyes
• Athletes should replay the skill using an internal perspective

Setting up an Imagery Program

• Sell athletes on imagery
• Have athletes practice basic imagery
• Implement a systematic program and monitor it
• Imagery must be credible
• Athletes must understand imagery does not guarantee success
• Provide evidence of effectiveness, use testimonials
• Imagery practice must be systematic
• Build imagery into the athlete's routine
• This program should not be complex
• Choose a controllable skill

Imagery Uses

• Learning sport skills
• Correcting mistakes
• Learning performance strategies
• Preparing a mental focus
• Developing automaticity
• Aiding injury recovery
• Athletes should practice imagery in many places and positions
• Athletes should engage in imagery in different settings

Imagery Uses Cont

• Verbal triggers focus athletes
• Athletes receive corrections
• Coaches should request athletes to imagine

Performance Strategy

• Imagery assists in learning and practicing performance strategies
• Athletes need to create unshakable mental strength
• Vividly imagine competitive situations
• Pre-performance imagery should occur before every contest, be individualized and practiced

Skill Performance

• Skills are better with pre-imagery
• Free throws and field goals are closed skills
• Imagery promotes automaticity, self-confidence and enhanced stress management
• Aids in recovery from injury

Psychology of the Female Athlete

• As women’s sports participation has increased, there has been more understanding of the physical aspects
• Traits and behaviors that mediate participation are neglected
• "Psychology" includes traits contributing to success

Resilience

• Resilience promotes personal assets and protects from stressors
• Grit is the ability to grow in the face of adversity
• Resilience, burnout, and sport attrition have a relationship
• Athletes can transform personal obstacles into tools
• Adversity helped increase self confidence

Sleep

• Sleep affects performance and mental state
• Sleep enhances athletic performance
• Inferior athletic performance is caused by decreased total sleep time

Anxiety and Depression

• Females have higher rates
• Females suffer depression and anxiety twice as often
• High rates of anxiety
• High rates of sports-related injury

Female Athlete Comparison

• Female athletes deal with more depression
• Team environment is crucial for performance

Stress Reduction

• Stress reduction is based upon explanations
• Interventions grouped in three approaches (reduction, restructuring, energizing)
• Elevated arousal can be detrimental
• Signals may indicate that there is a presence that you need
• Athletes with arousal need energizing

Strategy Examples

• There are a range of problem-solving strategies, including: advice seeking, information gathering, problem-solving, and proactive behavior

Advice Seeking

• Seeking individual and group support
• Relieves stress
• Provides specific information
• Asks for coach support

Information Gathering

• Seeks information to deal with the stressor
• Familiarizes themselves with the opponent
• Competitors attend precompetition camps

Problem Solving

• Thinking about potential stressors
• Identify a problem
• List solutions
• Explore the consequences
• Set a course

Proactive Behavior

• Coping in advance to prevent issues
• Athletes take responsibility for training

Stress Management

• Stress management interventions reduce physiological arousal and anxiety
• Mind techniques

Techniques

• Nerve control from the brain
• Integrates physical and cognitive
• Interventions impact others
• Reduction techniques
• Common work
• Become self directed and apply skill
• Muscle relaxation
• Autogenic Training

Self-Confidence

• Belief in yourself and your ability is self confidence
• Belief is key
• Direct correlation among direct success
• Inconfidence will hesitate
• Outstanding athletes are self-confident
• Thinking can lead to poor performance
• You will have trouble doing it if you don’t believe
• Intention to do something

Improving Self-Confidence

• To improve athletes need to: avoid irrational thinking and catastrophizing and self-fulfilling prophecies
• Develop an internal locus of control
• Avoid just thinking of luck
• Believe in good work ethic
• Negativity fighting can lower confidence
• Listen to the inner voice talk
• Listen for any negative talk, shut it down
• Switch negative to positive and replace it

Self-Talk

• Self-talk can change your cognitions
• Be aware of the qualities of your self-talk
• Turn negative to challenging
• Walking the walk effects people

Acting Positive

• Hard to think and feel negatives
• Talk will effect athletes
• Convincing yourself is wrong and to plan to lose
• Bad habits will become grained
• Never give up and just keep looking up

Repeat Important Phrases

• Repeat the litany
• Put up a technical skill
• There are common misconceptions in all of this
• The focus away from mistakes