Too Young and Too Fast - Understanding Student-Athlete Burnout

In sport today, there is persistent idea that ‘doing more is better’. Children at an early age are being pushed by their families and coaches to specialise in a specific sport and devote themselves to year-round training for that sport; perhaps for the families and coaches dreaming of the benefits of athletic achievement (Fischer et al. 2015). However, to achieve such optimal benefits from training, innovative training systems often involve overworking the athletes. The cost of working in this relentless method are seldom acknowledged. It is well documented that the human body needs rest to survive. Without this, an athlete’s performance will suffer and/or he or she will begin to break down. Silva (1990) viewed burnout as a training stress syndrome in which constant stress contributes to staleness, overtraining and ultimately burnout. Silva and other researchers proceed to explain that the only way to avoid this cycle is to rest, which is typically not a satisfactory solution for athletes who feel they can’t stop and have to continue through their negative symptoms (Mellano et al. 2019). 

An athlete's motivation is another element that may lead to burnout. In our society, youths participate in sports for a variety of reasons, including having fun, learning new skills, getting exercise, and meeting new people. Intrinsic motivation has been related to improved athletic results, including flow, a condition of peak performance (Lemyre et al. 2007). As athletes progress through the stages of competition, their motivation shifts toward extrinsic rewards such as medals, scholarships, wealth, celebrity, or approval. Participation becomes less about the pleasure of participating in the sport and more about what could be achieved via it, a shift that sometimes comes with a lot of added strain (Curran et al. 2011; DeFreese and Smith. 2013). Athletes can also feel manipulated by the incentives they seek, which can stifle their natural desire to engage in sports and lead to feelings of being trapped, which can fuel addiction (Gustafsson et al. 2007). 

There is little research on the prevalence of burnout, overtraining, or flatness. Silva (1990) found that 72% of Atlantic Coast Conference student-athletes had endured some stagnancy during their sport seasons, 66% had experienced overtraining (on average, twice during their college careers), and 47% had felt stressed out at some stage during their college careers (Silva. 1990). Hassmen et al. (2007) conducted a study of 980 elite teenage athletes and found that 1% - 9% of female athletes and 2% - 6% of male athletes had experienced extreme burnout symptoms. Since certain burnout cycle symptoms are similar to those of clinical depression, it's reasonable to wonder whether misdiagnosis has influenced our understanding of its meaning (Price and Weiss. 2000). 

It's critical that athletics teams become aware of the signs and effects of burnout and closely track student-athletes whom they interact for signs of the process beginning (Madigan et al. 2020). Changes in feelings (e.g., irritability, moodiness, disinterest), cognitive processing (e.g., difficulty concentrating), reductions in strength and coordination, cardiovascular changes (e.g., appetite loss, elevated resting heart rate), and elevated risk of disease are also warning signals to look out for (Li et al. 2019). The prescription for treating burnout, as Davis et al (2019) put it, is "no mystery": "rest, rest and rest." Setting short-term goals to boost morale, integrating enjoyable experiences into the rigours of preparation, and using stress-reduction exercises such as meditation and mindfulness are several other possible approaches. In the realm of sports, the notion that more is more persists, but the fact is that often, less is more.

References 

Curran, T., Appleton, P., Hill, A. and Hall, H., 2011. Passion and burnout in elite junior soccer players: The mediating role of self-determined motivation. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 12(6), pp.655-661.

Davis, L., Stenling, A., Gustafsson, H., Appleby, R. and Davis, P., 2019. Reducing the risk of athlete burnout: Psychosocial, sociocultural, and individual considerations for coaches. International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 14(4), pp.444-452.

DeFreese, J. and Smith, A., 2013. Teammate social support, burnout, and self-determined motivation in collegiate athletes. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 14(2), pp.258-265.

Gustafsson, H., Kentta, G., Hassmen, P., & Lindquist, C. (2007). Prevalence of burnout in competitive adolescent athletes. The Sport Psychologist, 21, pp.21-27. 

Jayanthi, N., LaBella, C., Fischer, D., Pasulka, J. and Dugas, L., 2015. Sports-Specialized Intensive Training and the Risk of Injury in Young Athletes. The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 43(4), pp.794-801.

Lemyre, P., Roberts, G. and Stray-Gundersen, J., 2007. Motivation, overtraining, and burnout: Can self-determined motivation predict overtraining and burnout in elite athletes? European Journal of Sport Science, 7(2), pp.115-126. 

Li, C., Zhu, Y., Zhang, M., Gustafsson, H. and Chen, T., 2019. Mindfulness and Athlete Burnout: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(3), pp.449.

Madigan, D., Rumbold, J., Gerber, M. and Nicholls, A., 2020. Coping tendencies and changes in athlete burnout over time. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 48, pp.101-666.

Madigan, D., Stoeber, J. and Passfield, L., 2016. Perfectionism and changes in athlete burnout over three months: Interactive effects of personal standards and evaluative concerns perfectionism. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 26, pp.32-39. 

Pacewicz, C., Mellano, K. and Smith, A., 2019. A meta-analytic review of the relationship between social constructs and athlete burnout. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 43, pp.155-164.

Price, M.S. and Weiss, M.R. (2000). Relationships among Coach Burnout, Coach Behaviors, and Athletes’ Psychological Responses. The Sport Psychologist, 14(4), pp.391–409.

Silva, J. M. (1990). An analysis of the training stress syndrome in competitive athletics. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 2, pp.5-20.