Burnout and the Changing Landscape of Youth Sport

Tom RaedekeEast Carolina University

raedeket@ecu.edu

Youth Sport SpecializationIs It Too Much Too Soon?

Colby-SawyerMarch 2010

Overview

• Setting the stage: Importance of the Burnout Issue– What is burnout?– Is it prevalent?– Impact on athletes

• What Causes of burnout– Chronic Stress– Erosion of Motivation

• Prevention strategies

Defining Features

Emotional & Physical

Exhaustion

SportDevaluation

Low sense ofPersonal

Accomplishment

Raedeke (1997) Raedeke & Smith (2009)

Other key features• Relatively Chronic State• Different than sport drop out

What is Burnout?Exhaustion

DevaluationReduced senseof accomplishment

The Changing Landscape of Youth Sport• Burnout—A phenomenon on the

rise (or at least increasingly discussed)– Sport specialization at young ages– Near year round training– Professionalization of youth sport– Increasing training demands

9000m per day

How Prevalent is Burnout?

• How prevalent is it?– We aren’t really sure-

Negative Ramifications

• Negative Impact on Athletes’ Sport Experiences– Performance decline– Decreased motivation– Dropout – Negative impact on team climate

Negative Ramifications

• Negative Impact on Well-Being and Health– Mental Health

• Depression• Self-esteem

– Illness susceptibility– Substance abuse

Cresswell & Eklund, 2006

What Causes Burnout?

═ Burnout

Stress = Perceived imbalance between task demands and resources

What makes sport demanding?• Training Demands• * Overtraining

• Too much training with too little recovery

• * Time demands • * Lack of improvement

Gustaffson et al. 2007; Kentta et al 2001

What makes sport demanding?• External Influences• * Parents

• Overinvolved• Supportive, but family life centers around

sport– Lots of time and money invested into sport– No break from sport

• * Pressure from coaches• Negative coaching style• Pressure to win• Building credentials

(Raedeke, Lunney, & Enables, 2002; Gould et al. 1996)

What makes sport demanding• Internal Demands (personality)

* Perfectionism* Trait Anxiety* Contingent Self-esteem* Pessimism/Optimism

(Appleton et al, 2009; Chen et al., 2009; Hill et al, 2009

What about the resource side of the picture?

• Strong Resources—Less Stress and Handle Demands Better

• Social Support• Lifestyle Management• Mental Skills Training• Life balance

Raedeke & Smith, 2004; Gould et al. 1996

Stress Perspective Summarized

High Demands

Personality Coping Resources

Perceived Stress

•Perceived Overload (exhaustion)

•Unmet goals/expectations (reduced accomplishment)

• Lack of enjoyment/meaning (devaluation)

Lifestress

Smith, 1986Goodger et al. 2007

Burnout-Erosion of Motivation • Burnout stems from a lack of fulfillment and

failure to find meaning in sport– While everyone can experience stress,

burnout can only be experienced by people who entered their careers with high expectations, goals, and motivation--people who expected to derive a sense of significance from their work (Pines, 1993)

– State of fatigue or frustration brought about by devotion to a cause or way of life that failed to produce expected reward (Freudenberger and Richelson, 1980)

Burnout = Loss of Meaning• Athletes feel they are trapped,

stifled, and that they are wasting time in sport while missing out on other life opportunities

Bottom Line: Being an athlete and athletic success don’t seem as important or significant as they used to

Why Does Sport Lose Meaning?• Why do athletes’ participate? What

do they expect to gain from sport participation?

Goals and Expectations

• Enjoyment---To have fun• Competence—To be successful• Affiliation—To be part of a team

What causes burnout? Unmet goals and expectations

More On Loss of MeaningCoakley (1992); Black & Smith, 2008Raedeke (1997).

+

_Sport Structure

Control

Multifaceted Identity

Control

Unidim Identity

Burnout linked to erosion of commitment•Two faces of commitment:

– Attraction (enjoyment)-based Commitment• Because they want to be involved • Satisfaction, love of sport

•Passion– Entrapment-based Commitment

• Because they have to be involved• Obligation

• Burnout

Burnout and CommitmentPassion Entrapmen

tLow Commitment

Satisfaction High Low Low

Benefits High Low Low

Costs Low High High

Alternative Options

Low Low High

Investments High High Low

Social Constraints

? High Low

EntrapmentCoakley (1992); Raedeke (1997); Schmidt & Stein (1991)

Entrapment

Decreasing Benefits

Increasing Costs

Decreasing Enjoyment

Investments

Social constraints

Lack of Alternative Options

Control

Identity

Preventing Burnout: Secondary Individual Approaches

• Teach athletes how to deal with the demands of training and competition – Target: Individual Athlete– Typical Approach: Stress Management– Limit: Does not treat source of problem

Organizational Approach: Primary Prevention

• Maslach: “Truth About Burnout”– Organizational/situational factors play

a larger role in burnout than individual characteristics• Approach: Take preventative steps to

improve the quality of athletes’ sport experience (work culture)

• Target: The structure of sport, coaches and parents

Prevention is more effective than intervention

An Ounce of Prevention is Worth A Pound of Cure

Secondary individual approaches do not work as effectively as primary prevention

Psychological Stress: Teach Athletes to Manage Stress

• Individual Centered Intervention Approaches: Stress Management – Identify what is causing stress—develop

plan for dealing with it – Teach athletes how to handle

stress/pressure (mental skills training)• Relaxation, goal setting, anxiety

management, self-talk– Constructive outlooks on

adversity/slumps/lack of improvement – Develop coping resources (e.g., lifestyle

mgt, social support)

Preventing Burnout

• Training demands– Balance training demands and

recovery– Schedule recovery periods/time-outs– Don’t increase training demands

when other stressors are on the rise– Focus training plan on long term

development—not short term gain

Psychological Stress: Primary Prevention Strategies (empower athletes)• Parent Education• Develop a Positive Coaching style

– Empathy– Quality teaching and instruction

• Reinforcement• Instruction• Encouragement

– Autonomy supportive versus coercive environment• Choice, ownership, involvement, rationale

– Mastery versus performance oriented motivational climate

•Price & Weiss, 2000; •Raedeke & Smith

• Performance Climate• Winning is

emphasized• Shift in focus from

learning to performing skills– Team with fewest

mistake win– Mistakes are

viewed as failure– Focus on social

comparison

• Mastery Climate• Why participate:

– The joy is the journey– The process

• What is reinforced, emphasized, and valued?– Effort– Learning and

Improvement– Mistake = part of

learning

Commitment Ideas• Keep passion alive (enjoyment and

benefits)– Incorporate the things that make sport

meaningful into sport experience – Break monotony of practice– Identify positive things about being an

athlete and what you’d miss if left sport

– Help athletes connect with joy of sport– Keep the fun factor high

• Keep investments in balance– Add energizers into week– Strive for life balance– Leave sport on the playing field

• Social constraints and control– Ensure that significant others (coaches, parents) are

a source of support and not stress– Play for own reasons—not others– Create an autonomy supportive environment– Give athletes meaningful control

• Foster a multidimensional identity

Questions, Comments, Problems, Contentions, or Objections?