BURNOUT IN COACHES

1. BURNOUT IN COACHES Lynn Gugliuzza April 28, 2008

2. What is Burnout? • A state of emotional exhaustion caused by excessive psychological and emotional demands. It is a chronic condition occurring when demands exceed an individual’s abilities to cope, leading to feelings of being overwhelmed, and resulting in psychological, emotional, and physical withdrawal from the stressful activity. (Drake, 2002) • Stress / Role Strain / Role Overloadcan be viewed as a mismatch between the perceived demands of a situation and one’s perceived capabilities and resources for meeting those demands. (Kelley, 1994)

3. Three components • Emotional exhaustion- feeling overextended or emotionally exhausted by work • Depersonalization- characterized by a lack of caring for clients or athletes • Lack of personal accomplishment- failure to perceive a desired level of competence and achievement in one’s work (Drake, 2002) (Kelley, 1994) Are these three VALUES we want to pass along to our athletes?

4. Sport Specific Model • Main theme: Cognitive appraisal of and physiological responses to stress influence the development of burnout. • Supported by the fact: • Perceived lack of accomplishment, autonomy, and support were more predictive of burnout than the actual amounts of time coaches spent in work and leisure activities. (Vealey, 1998)

5. How does this transition into coaching? • IMBALANCEbetween the • demands of the coaching situation (understanding and motivating athletes, planning practices, developing budgets) and the • resources available to deal with the situation (communication skills, support staff, basic accounting skills) can lead to the development of coaching burnout. (Kelley, 1994)

6. STRESS Factors  Burnout • Self-imposed and external pressures to WIN • *Single greatest source of stress in athletics* • TIMEdemands viewed as overwhelming ROLE CONFLICTS • Teaching courses, coaching multiple sports, parental roles • Inequalities between men’s and women’s programs • General lack of administrative understanding/support • Shrinking budgets for program needs & coach’s salaries • Being a ROLE MODEL for their athletes • Belief that today’s athletes lack dedication • Loss of patience with athletes. (Kelley, 1994) (Hjalm, 2007) (Drake, 2002) (Felder, 1990)

7. What messages are we sending to our athletes? • Winning above all else, even your health? • Sacrifice family time for your job? • WIN • TIME • ROLE CONFLICTS • ROLE MODEL YouTube - Angry NFL Coaches “Coaches are performers, educators, administrators, leaders, planners, motivators, negotiators, managers, and listeners, but they are also people.” (Hjalm, 2007)

8. How does this effect the athletes? • Coaches begin to distance themselves from the athletes and experience a reduced sense of meaning about their work … which leads to A decrease in the quality of the athletic experience for the coach and athletes. (Kelley, 1994)

9. Vealey’s Study in 1998 Athlete Anxiety Perceptions of Coach’s Behavior Coach Burnout Athlete Burnout

10. What was found? • **Overall, higher levels of burnout in athletes was related to their perceptions of their coaches’ communication and feedback behaviors and coaching styles. Perceived their coaches were: • less empathetic • emphasized dispraise as opposed to praise as a motivational technique • implemented an autocratic coaching style • emphasized winning as more important than the development of athletes. • Coaches with stronger feelings of personal accomplishment were perceived by their athletes as having a greater tendency to use praise, communicate effectively, and display empathy. (Vealey, 1998)

11. Bruce Parkhill, former Penn State basketball coach, resigned because he was “tired, lacked commitment, but most of all, he didn’t want to cheat his players, his program, or Penn State.” (Wojciechowski, 1995) • “Coaches who see change rather than stability as the norm in life, who believe they have the ability to influence the course of events, and who approach life with a sense of purpose and a healthy curiosity are less likely to perceive situations as threatening and are less prone to burnout.” (Kelley, 1994)

12. Cognitive Coping Strategies • Develop an awareness • Recognize your own symptoms of self-destructive stress and using psychological techniques, correct and then eliminate burnout • Accept the limitations of one’s control • Player injuries, underperformance, referees • Focus on what you can control • Training sessions, mental preparation and motivation levels of players • Share control with assistants, players (Steinberg , 1999) (Hemsley, 2003)

13. Prevention Stretegies • Personal Release • Means to separate yourself physically or mentally from work • Organization Skills • Structure the coaching environment to be rewarding and satisfying to maintain commitment. • Mentors • More experienced coaches should help guide young coaches to help them achieve success and maintain the desire to remain in the profession (Drake, 2002) (Raedeke, 2004)

14. Tips to staying committed • REST…you may sleep a lot but you seldom feel “rested” • Good Nutrition • Physical / Emotional Exercise • Relaxation techniques • Time Alone • Spiritual and Religious Time • Time with children / family / friends • New Interests or hobbies • Develop new talents (Hemsley, 2003) (Maskaly, 2008) (Raedeke, 2004)

15. So…What is the key to it all? BALANCE Sounds like a simple word, but without it many things are not possible (Maskaly, 2008)