1. Athlete Burnout: An Individual and Organizational Phenomenon
Chapter 21
Athlete Burnout: An Individual and Organizational Phenomenon
J.D. DeFreese, Thomas D. Raedeke, and Alan L. Smith
“Adults need to pay attention. It’s a problem in youth sports. These kids are burned out. From 12 to 18, I bet Elena can count on her hands the amount of weekends she didn’t have anything to do related to sport. She’s missed the opportunity to be a kid.”
Former burnout case and current WNBA player
Jeré Longman talking about Elena Delle Donne
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2. Athlete Burnout
A multidimensional, cognitive-affective syndrome characterized by emotional and physical exhaustion, reduced sense of accomplishment, and sport devaluation
Negative impacts include:
Performance decrements,
Decreased motivation
Potential dropout
Troubled social relations that negatively impact team climate
Mental (anxiety, depression, eating disorders) and physical (illness susceptibility, substance abuse) health
Approximately 1% to 10% of athletes suffer from it
With no consistent diagnostic criteria, that number may be skewed
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3. The Three Dimensions of Burnout
Emotional Exhaustion – Intense training and competition
Devaluation/Depersonalisation – Loss of interest and resentment
Reduced Accomplishment – Achieving below expectations and not meeting personal targets
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4. What It’s Not It is NOT depression It is NOT sport drop out
Burnout causes some athletes to quit sport, but not all burned-out athletes will quit
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5. What Causes Burnout? Burnout is considered:
A reaction to chronic stress  explained within overtraining and psychosocial stress perspectives
A motivational phenomenon  examined within self- determination and entrapment frameworks
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6. Overtraining
An imbalance between training and recovery, often combined with other training and non-training stressors
Overreaching
Overtraining syndrome
Recovery
Life stress outside of sport can potentially impact how athletes respond to intense training
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7. Psychosocial Sport Stress
Occurs when athletes perceive an imbalance between sport demands and their ability to meet those demands
Stresses = high training and competitive demands, time requirement of sport, pressure from coaches/teammates, family dynamics surrounding sport, internal pressure
This approach suggests that beyond lowering sport-based demands, increasing resources can be effective in deterring athlete burnout
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8. Self-Determination Theory (SDT)
Psychological outcomes are influenced by the nature of one’s motivation
Individual choice VS. internal or external pressures
Motivation influenced by:
Autonomy – feelings of personal choice or control
Competence – sense of success and being effective in one’s environment
Relatedness – social connection to others reflected by feelings of acceptance and belonging
SDT framework suggests that structuring sport to support satisfaction of psychological needs and increase self-determined motivation for athletes is helpful for burnout prevention
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9. Sport Entrapment
Burnout occurs when individuals feel trapped into the role of being an athlete
Maintain involvement in sport not because they want to, but because they feel they have to
This perspective highlights that athlete burnout experiences are most appropriately considered within the sport structures that contribute to their occurrence
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10. Burnout Interventions
Need to be multi-faceted
Should address a range of antecedents (overtraining, psychosocial sport stress, SDT, sport entrapment)
Consider the highly individualized nature of athlete burnout
The most effective interventions will have a prevention focus
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11. The Job-Person Fit Model of Burnout and Engagement
This model emphasizes individual perceptions of:
Workload – demands relative to one’s personal limits and resources
Control – ability to influence decisions, autonomy, and access to the resources necessary for performance
Reward – incentives (monetary, social, intrinsic) consistent with expectations
Community – social interaction in the form of conflict, closeness, and teamwork
Fairness – fairness and respectfulness of decisions and treatment
Values – correspondence between personal and organizational goals and behavioral expectations
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12. The Job-Person Fit Model of Burnout and Engagement (cont.)
Helps athletes experience engagement
Engagement: a positive psychological experience characterized by:
confidence in contrast to a reduced sense of accomplishment
dedication in contrast to devaluation
vigor and enthusiasm in contrast to exhaustion
Engagement helps prevent burnout AND enhances motivation, performance, and well-being
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13. Framework for Tailoring Prevention & Treatment Strategies
Assess the situation
Determine what individual and organizational factors are important
Design an intervention plan
Evaluate intervention effectiveness
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