Editor’s note: In April 2016, NATA Now ran a column by Timothy Neal, LLMSW, ATC, CCISM, titled “Burnout in Athletes,” kicking off a series of mental health-related columns that were posted throughout May in honor of Mental Health Month. To this day, it remains the most visited post on NATA Now and is one of the top 25 pages viewed on www.nata.org. To ensure members have access to the most up-to-date information possible, Neal has updated his column for the May/June NATA News and NATA Now.
By Timothy Neal, LLMSW, ATC, CCISM
While participation in sports provides a wellspring of physical and mental satisfaction for athletes, the numerous demands and pressure of being a successful athlete entails non-stop activity of games, practice and physical conditioning. These demands and pressures, if not managed effectively, may lead to burnout.
Burnout is a step-by-step condition that may go unnoticed by those under stress by growing demands and expectations. Burnout is a social, physical and emotional withdrawal from formerly enjoyable activities as a result of chronic stress and motivation concerns that is usually characterized by fatigue in enthusiasm emotionally and physically, diminished personal satisfaction with achievements and cynicism through depersonalizing.
For athletes, burnout can also be found in individuals with high enthusiasm for their sport, known as “athletic identity.” Athletic identity’s definition is the degree to which an individual identifies with the athletic role. Individuals with moderate to high athletic identity will identify themselves in three areas: 1) social identity as an athlete; 2) exclusivity as an athlete; and, most importantly as it relates to burnout, 3) negative affectivity of being an athlete. Thus, an athlete with moderate to high athletic identity as measured by the Athletic Identity Measurement Scale (1-49 scoring continuum, with seven as lowest and 49 as the highest score) may be willing to continue their quest to be identified as an athlete though they are experiencing negative effects of participation, such as playing through an injury inappropriately, playing when they’re physically spent as found in overtraining or trying to push themselves past their limits physically and mentally as seen in burnout.
Other antecedents of burnout may include parental pressure, perfectionism, perceived stress and motivation for success. Additionally, a key relationship that affects student athlete burnout is the athlete-coach relationship. If this relationship is challenged in some way, especially in the area of communication, studies have reported the athlete is at risk for burnout.
Athlete burnout can range from physical and emotional exhaustion to the lack of control over their lives, the amount of stress being placed on the athlete and feeling pressured to perform during practices as well as competitions. Games and practice have traditional and non-traditional seasons, usually encompassing six or more months of the year. For many athletes, summers are spent on campus working out or practicing. Conditioning sessions that are physically taxing can take place as early as 5 a.m. to accommodate class or work schedules. Additional “voluntary” sessions of physical conditioning, film study or skill development, along with the rigors of school work, the modern athlete is on “overload” as a result of participation demands from the moment they step on campus until they leave school. This can create, for the athlete, a condition of chronic stress physically and, more importantly, mentally.
In the new age of name, image and likeness (NIL) and the liberal use of a transfer portal in college and switching secondary schools from one year to the next, the athlete may feel compelled to train, practice, compete, pursue a NIL deal and/or engage in the stressful experience of being recruited by another school while competing for their present school. This lifestyle of constant activity in a quest for individual and/or team success is prevalent in today’s sports world, starting at the youth level and continuing through the secondary school and collegiate levels. Professional sports have in place, through their collective bargaining agreements, mandated time off for the athletes to recover from the rigors of their season, something that intercollegiate student athletes have been demanding for decades.
Burnout is a response to chronic stress of continued demands in a sport or activity without the opportunity for physical and mental rest and recovery, overloading the individual’s coping capacity. Burnout is a syndrome of continual training and sport attention stress, resulting in staleness, overtraining and, eventually, burnout. The athlete first starts feeling stale or overwhelmed, but is encouraged to push through symptoms of overtraining and potential burnout to continue with a demanding schedule in order to feel a part of the team, maintain their starting position, keep their scholarship or improve their NIL status.
Burnout affects the athlete in various stages:
- The athlete is placed in a situation that involves new or varying demands on their physical ability and time management.
- The athlete at some point – usually early on as a young athlete or later if a more experienced athlete – views the demands as excessive or nonproductive.
- The athlete feels as if their performance is being hampered by the demands of participation and the inability to rest and recover.
- The athlete starts experiencing subtle signs and symptoms of physical and mental burnout.
- Burnout takes place and the physical and mental toll on the athlete impacts their lives and performance on and off the field, perhaps even discontinuing sports participation.
Signs and symptoms of burnout include:
- Leveling off or diminished performance or conditioning, including strength and stamina losses as well as chronic fatigue
- Physiological signs such as having a higher resting heart rate and blood pressure
- Cognitive issues such as difficulty in concentration, diminished work in school or forgetfulness
- Illnesses as a result of suppressed immune system
- Emotional issues such as disinterest, moodiness or irritability
- Low self-esteem, increased anxiety and depression as a result of falling short of sport demands
Athletic trainers can help in identifying and preventing burnout in athletes through an awareness of the signs and symptoms, and in communication with coaches and strength staff to monitor athletes for overtraining, which is a large contributor of burnout.
Whenever an athlete, particularly a younger athlete new to the level of participation, exhibits some signs and symptoms of burnout, a physician evaluation for a physical cause is warranted. If the physical exam eliminates a physical cause for fatigue, consideration should be given to modifying the activity to permit the athlete more rest and recovery, and educating the athlete on strategies to improve both. If the athlete continues to exhibit or report burnout, consideration should be given to referring the athlete for a psychological evaluation and care.
Coaches and strength staff should be educated on burnout and consider modifications to workouts both in terms of intensity and length of time in order to preserve optimal levels of performance and to prevent burnout. Some measures, such as heart-rate monitoring during practice and conditioning, are one of several approaches teams are utilizing to monitor potential overtraining. Educating the athlete on hydration, sleep and stress-reducing strategies should be offered.
Rest, recuperation and time away from sport are recommended methods to prevent and treat athlete burnout. Similar to most students and American adults, athletes don’t get enough sleep to feel rested and ready for the physical and mental demands they face each day. Seven to eight hours of sleep are recommended daily. Considering that many athletes rise before or at dawn for conditioning sessions and practice, their sleep cycle is hampered to be fully effective in providing the rest necessary for optimal school and sports performance. This results in a state of constant fatigue, placing the athlete at risk for developing burnout and mental health issues, especially when the athlete feels there is no escaping the time and physical demands of their sport and school.
Some time away from sport is another method of preventing athlete burnout. Being away from the demands of their sport, even for a short period several times a year, provides an athlete with an opportunity to attend to their schoolwork and relationships that are necessary to leading a more fulfilling life that will lead to being motivated once they return to sport.
Athlete burnout is a very real and underreported experience found in sports. Understanding the role of athletic identity and the signs and symptoms of escalating athlete burnout are important steps in prevention and treatment of this situation, and may prevent the start or worsening of a mental health disorder in an athlete.
To help you educate parents, athletes, coaches and others about burnout, NATA has created a burnout and mental health handout.
Don’t forget to check out NATA’s other infographic handouts, which NATA members can download, reprint and distribute to their local communities.
