Burnout In Sport and Its Prevention - Term Paper Example

Burnout in Sports One of my most vivid memories of childhood was my fascination for watching candles being lit up. I derived unexplainable pleasure as I patiently watched a candle staying aglow amidst the gushing wind and burning through until all the paraffin wax had been melted while only the wick remains aflame and slowly dims till the last glow burns out. At times, some of the candles I watched died out sooner than all the wax can melt. In my own little way, I felt frustrated when a candle burned out halfway. These were my crudest and earliest perceptions of burning out. About a decade and a half ago, however, as I heard an old country tune by Neil Young bellowing out the lyrics “It’s better to burn out than to fade away”, I have a firmer grasp of the burnout issue and I told myself that probably, Michael Jordan shared Young’s conviction. Who could ever forget former Chicago Bulls’ supercager Michael Jordan leaving basketball in 1993 at the height of his career and popularity, because of burnout? Burnout Defined Rotella, Hanson, and Coop (1991) defined burnout in sports as a state of psychological or emotional, and at times physical withdrawal from participation in athletic activities as a consequence of chronic stress. Another definition formulated by Maslach & Jackson (1984, in Raedeke, Lunney and Venables, 2002) refers to burnout as a condition of emotional fatigue, “depersonalization”, and reduced individual achievement. Prevalence Statistics Findings from a number of research studies showed that the burnout problem is real and escalating. The Gustafsson (2007) study of a total of 980 athletes from 29 different individual sports and 6 team sports divulged that the percentage of athletes who exhibited high levels of burnout was found to be between 1 and 9 percent, while those suffering from severe burnout was from one to two percent. Research conducted by Hughes (in Rice, 2007) of 534 Gaelic football players aged 16 to 24, classified the participants based on three age levels : the minors, who comprised the 16 – 18 years old level; the U-21 and college level, who consisted of those 19 – 21 years of age; and the young senior inter-county players, who are made up of those 22 – 24 years of age. Results showed that close to 10 per cent of the study participants, majority of whom are in the 22 -24 age, range were in the advance stages of burnout and draws little fulfillment in their sport. Meanwhile, a study of a younger age group of American athletes disclosed that at age 13, young female athletes tend to burn out and quit their game (Withers, 2006). This is backed up by Brown (2000) who reported that sports burnout has affected the youth in the whole United States in epidemic-like proportions, with up to 70 percent of the young athletes quitting sports and burning out “by the time they are 13 years old”. Burnout in Professional and Amateur Sports The burnout problem in sports has triggered much concern from various sectors in the previous years, in the light of athletes and coaches leaving sports while in the apex of their careers, pointing to burnout as the culprit. Even the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) admitted as early as 2002 that too much of the sport exposes the players to a greater risk of injuries and burn out. On the other hand, Weinberg and Gould (2006) maintained that “stresses and strains” of coaching also spell burnout even among such top caliber coaches as Digger Phelps of Notre Dame University, Ricky Birdsong of Northwestern University, Tim Grgurich of the University of Nevada, Mike Krzyzewski of Duke University, and Phil Jackson and Dick Vermeil of the National Basketball Association. The amateur sports arena has also manifested concern on the burnout issue as more and more young athletes drop out of sports as early as their adolescent years. Their concerns were not, however, unfounded because although recent research findings imply that children leave sports as their interests are diverted on other pursuits, there is also research evidence which suggests that the tremendous demands of sports and its accompanying competitive strain result in youth athetes burning out and abandoing sports. Concern about burn out in sports is valid considering that burned-out athletes are usually depressed and low on drive, vigor, and sense of self-worth, which are often borne into other facets of their lives (USA Swimming and The US Ski and Snowboard Association, 2006). Causes of Burnout in Sports From a survey of literature on sports burnout, the causes of this prevalent malady affecting athletes from all types of sports are enumerated based on the standpoints of Kalkstein (2004) and Singleton and Green (2004). Kalkstein maintained that burn out in sports are caused by one or a combination of the following conditions: (1) the “pressure to win”, whether it be self-imposed or from others, results to frustration when an athlete’s drive and determination to play well usually ends up with mediocre performance; (2) overwork, is an offshoot of an athlete taking the game too seriously to the point that the entertainment value of the sport is lost, thereby causing the performance to decline; (3) inadequate social support, is among the most common causes of sports burnout, not only for players but also for their coaches. Athletes in a slump or coaches in a losing streak, tend to burn out because the social support available failed to assure the athlete or the coach that “the support system is there because of what they are and not because of what they do”. Singleton and Green classified the causes of sports burnout into physical, social or inter-personal and psychological. Among the physical causes identified are injury, overtraining and persistent fatigue. Social or interpersonal causes include oversheduling, personal problems, negative parental influence, and coach’s leadership style or team culture. Psychological causes include unfulfilled or inappropriate expectations, which may come in the form of lack of development as a player, team rankings and future career concerns; and diminishing fun in the sport brought about by the pressure to train by either the coach or the parent, the pressure to win, the pressure to keep the scholarship and self-imposed pressure to excel in the sport. Singleton and Green also elucidated on the factors contributing to burnout, classifying these into parent-athlete relationship, coaching styles and team culture. Key factors in the parent-athlete relations which contribute to burnout are : the tendency of the parent to live his childhoold athletic aspirations through his child, lack of an emotional moat to act as barrier against negative feelings, comparison of child with other child athletes, sideline shouting or coaching from the parents during games, and negative attitude of some parents, like being too hard on the child athlete in order to make sure that the child does not commit the same mistakes the parent(s) committed in the past; high expectations for the child to excel in a particular sports for future financial rewards; getting everyone, except his own child to believe that it is the child’s choice to engage in sports or that from the child’s conception, he/she was destined to be an athlete in a particular sports. Along the area of coaching styles, factors which contribute to athlete burnout consist of playing favorites; substitution after an athlete commits a mistake; failure to allot playing time for one or some members of the team; emphasizing outcomes only of the athletes’ mistakes or weak points and not the athletes’ strengths at the same time; failure/inability to deliver a pep talk to the team after a loss; relating an athlete’s performance to his worth as a person; and making “friendship” with the athletes conditional on their performance. In terms of team culture, a climate described by the following keywords are factors that definitely lead to athlete burnout : distrust, instead of trust; shame or doubt, instead of autonomy; selfishness, instead of selflessness; ego-tripping instead of ego-boosting; reactive, instead of pro-active; confusion, instead of identity; and isolation, instead of relationships. Symptoms of Burnout The symptoms of burnout in sports, whether they be in professional athletes, amateur players or coaches, do not considerably vary. On the part of sports coaches, a number of have been associated with their burning out including : pressure from management in the case of professional and amateur college teams, or pressure from parents in the case of minor-athletes; insufficient control over their jobs as coaches to give way for management prerogatives; frequent conflict with athletes; democratic style of leadership; inadequate social support; role conflict or ambiguity arising out of compromises with management, parents or other concerned parties; and at times, pressures from competition-related travels (McNamara and McNamara, 2006). For young athletes, the American Academy of Pediatrics (2007) identified the symptoms of burnout which may include one or more of the following : persistent muscle or joint pains; fatigue; increased heart rate at rest; changes in the athlete’s behavior; waning sport performance, diminishing zest for practice or sports competition; or difficulties in finishing even ordinary activities. Additional symptoms may also be manifested in the form of eating problems such as loss of appetite; uncharacteristic attention centered on aches and pains; and melancholy; (Nanaimo Minor Hockey Association, n. d.). For adult athletes, the warning signs of burnout are generally evident either as psychological symptoms such as sleeping disturbance, low level of self confidence, irritability, fatigue, rage and aggression; or physical symptoms which might include: elevated blood pressure, problems involving the gastrointestinal tract, or unexplained weight loss (Stanton-Rich, n. d.). On the other hand, some indicators of coach burnout may take the form of lost enjoyment and dynamic edge in coaching; resorting to justification of outcomes when faced with negative results or issues, instead of fact-finding or looking for the appropriate solution; designing game plans and training strategies appearing to be more physically and mentally taxing than before; and propensity to criticize rather than to praise even well-performing athletes (McNamara and McNamara, 2006). Burnout Prevention Like any other medical condition, the seemingly overused adage that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” also holds true in burnout cases in sports. Stoker (2000) suggested basic strategies to prevent burnout among young athletes such as (1) educating the athletes and their parents on the management of stress; (2) defining attainable targets; (3) utilization of positive reinforcement instead of censure; (4) cautious use of the “playing up” strategy or pitting younger athletes with older competitors; (5) if possible, provisions should be made such that the time required for travel related with out-of-town or out-of-country competitions are kept to a minimum; and (6) fresh input from the athletes, themselves, during training should always be welcome by coaches. For younger athletes, Stoker maintained that parents need to double team with the coaches in preventing burnout by observing simple yet effective gametime decorum such as : staying seated in the bleachers during the games; avoiding the lure of yelling to their children about what to do or not to during the games; refraining from disrupting what the coach is discussing during coaching huddles or half-time pep-talks; and avoiding offensive remarks to athletes and supporters of the opposing team, officials and sports administrators. Martens (in Krause, 2002) indicated that the occurrence of psychological stress and eventually, burnout, is prompted by a considerable discrepancy between expectation about an athletes’ performance and what these athletes believe they are actually capable of doing. Prevention of burnout in general may, therefore, be addressed via learner - trainer interaction, where only practical and attainable targets are initiated (Aeschlimann, 1997 in Krause, 2002). In conjuction with proper goal-setting, burnout is prevented through self awareness. Brohl (2006) argued that the best way to prevent burnout is to “know thyself”, a pre-requisite to the identification of one’s own strengths and weaknesses. One of the best vehicles for self awareness is the Johari Window Model show in Figure 1. It is also known as the Disclosure/Feedback Model of Self Awareness. Figure 1. The Johari Window Model (Luft and Ingham in Chapman, 2004) As may be gleaned from Figure 1, the Open/Free area represent s information about a person which are known to this person and also by others. Examples are name, color of hair, color of eyes, etc. The Hidden area signifies information that the person knows about himself that others do not know, such as the person’s likes and dislikes, dreams, secrets etc. Meanwhile, the Blind area embodies information about a person which others know but the person himself/herself does not know. Finally, the Unknown area symbolizes information which is uknown to the person himself/herself and also unknown to the others. With the use of this model, a team can understand how each member provides and accepts information. The Johari window can facilitate in illustrating and enhancing self-awareness (Bloom, 2008) provided that each one gives true and honest information about himself/herself and about others. To prevent burnout among sports mentors, McNamara and McNamara enjoins the coaches to an easy regimen consisting of the following: (1) proper diet, enough sleep and regular exercise; (2) alloting longer time on the more pleasurable facets of coaching rather than on paperwork and administration; (3) preventing the monotony of customary activities during practice by regularly engaging in new training routines and activities; (4) never hesitating to seek professional advise or obtain social support during difficult times; and (5) avoidance of taking the coaching job back home. Conclusion It may be generalized that burnout is both a state and a process which results as an offshoot of inter-mingling aspects related to an athlete’s or coach’s physical, social and psychological condition. Burnout in sports, like in any other profession, manifests indicators which herald different levels of severity. While burnout is a real problem in the wide world of sports, the good news is that it can be prevented. Among the best preventive interventions for burnout are the complementary strategies of self awareness and realistic goal setting. A good knowledge of an athlete’s own self, should present a lucid image of his strengths and weaknesseses, which is a pre-requisite to the setting of achievable goals both for the athlete and for the team. This implies that as long as targets are attainable, less pressure is exerted on the athlete psychologically resulting to lesser strain physically, which in turn would require little or almost nil scaffold from the social milieu. Hence, the chances for athlete or mentor burnout is relegated to a minimum. Like the burning candles from my childhood, as long as the windows are shut to shield the flame from the gushing wind, the candles burn aflame until the last drop of paraffin wax melts and the wick gradually burns itself out . . . naturally - not prematurely like Michael Jordan or Phil Jackson did. References American Academy of Pediatrics. (2007, June 4). Avoiding Overuse Injuries and Burnout: Taking a Break is a Winning Move for Young Athletes. Retrieved April 4, 2008, from http://www.aap.org/advocacy/releases/june07injuries.htm. Bloom, G. (2008, March 25). Johari Window (Luft and Ingham). Retrieved April 2, 2008, from 12 Manage:The Executive Fast Track: http://www.12manage.com/methods_luft_ ingham_johari_window.html. Brohl, K. (2006, September/October). Understanding and Preventing Worker Burnout. Children's Voice. Vol. 15 No. 5. Brown, J. (2000, September 12). When the Fun Goes Out of Games. 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USA Swimming and The US Ski and Snowboard Association. (2006). Athletic Stress: Developing Coping Skills through Sports. Retrieved April 2, 2008, from Cooper Spur Race Team Website: http://www.racecsrt.org/ussa_articles/developing_coping_skills.pdf. Weinberg, R., & Gould, D. (2006). Foundations of Sports and Exercise Psychology. Champaign, Illinois, USA: Human Kinetics, Inc. Withers, T. (2006, January 10). Study: Kids burn out with focus on sports. Retrieved April 2, 2008, from Utah Youth Soccer Association: http://www.utahyouthsoccer.net/tt_kids_burnout.pdf. Read More