Burnout is starting to be a bigger and bigger problem if our everyday life. It kind of makes you want to flee sometimes instead of standing up and fighting, doesn’t it? Especially in today’s world when all anyone seems to want from us is more. More work, more time, more efficiency, more commitment, more risk-taking, more sacrifice, more, more, more.
It seems like our lives are so fast paced and so much is expected of our kids.
I wanted to share with you an article written by Track and Field Coach Bryan Hoddle about burnout in coaching and for youth sports athletes…
“Burnout is best conceived of as a state of mental and / or physical exhaustion. Burnout is caused by excessively prolonged or excessively intense stress arousal.” Dr. Ralph Vernacchia
The old days of participating in high school sports bring back great memories for many of us. The season starting, exciting games and competitions, the pom poms, the smell of popcorn, and of course the season culminating with the championships.
Fast forward ahead to today and the season starts, exciting games and competitions, pom poms, the smell of popcorn, and the championships concluding the season, sort of…
Now athletes and coaches are heading off to summer camp, summer competitions, fundraising, auctions, club sports, summer lifting, more competitions and on and on and on. There is no longer an end to any sports season. The blender coaches and athletes are going through is turned up high gear, and the path to burnout is set in motion.
BURNOUT ISSUES FOR THE COACH
The coaching profession finds goal-oriented, success-driven, caring and compassionate people who work above and beyond the call of duty to foster and nurture the development of middle school and high school student athletes. Many work for the love of sport and the love of kids.
Pay, while important, is often secondary in the eyes of the coach. It’s hard to top the impact coaches have on students in a school building. How many times have you thought or heard these words. “My coach had a really positive impact on my life and I’m where I’m at today because of my coach.“
Coaches are valuable people to all schools and all communities. The life lessons they teach are invaluable to the growth of our future leaders.
Today, however, you’ll find more demands placed on coaches by parents and athletes, time expected above what anyone could have ever imagined 25 years ago, and things aren’t slowing down. New expectations and increased time commitments are the expected norm. Today, coaches struggle with finding time to attend their own family events.
Today’s coach is in a high speed blender with no off switch in sight. From filing out more paper work, doing additional counseling with both athletes and parents, scheduling in-season events, kid camps, fund raisers, team camps, meetings, summer competitions, the list continues to grow and burnout in the coaching profession is exploding. Today, these expectations simply aren’t suggestions by many communities for coaches, rather they are expected requirements.
Not only is the coach in the cross hairs of burnout, families of coaches are definitely on the front lines of increased expectations and time commitments that reach far beyond the normal school year. The mental and physical health of the coach and his or her family are taking a relentless beating.
BURNOUT ISSUES FOR THE ATHLETE
Not long ago, there was an event called summer vacation. Remember the time? You went swimming, camping with the family, riding a bike, messed around with a hobby you have shelved during the school year, went on dates, went on a family vacation, and actually went to a school yard to divide up teams to play a game without adults doing it for you in an organized league.
For those who wanted to join a club or summer team, it was actually an option to participate or not participate. No camp fees, no structured, must attend practices, no specialty or speed camps to attend, few summer competitions and little parental pressure, and little talk of the college athletic scholarship. Summer was a much anticipated time of mental and physical relaxation, and down time needed by all.
So what changed? Kids are still kids.
Athletes today need planners not only during school, but for athletics in the summer to keep track of which sports camp or practice they are going to this day or week, and which team has a game or practice this day or week. Sports are all a big blur and the fight for the athlete’s attention and participation is on. This is just the beginning of the stress placed on today’s athlete.
One area is the pursuit of the almighty college athletic scholarship. Today parents are shelling out thousands of dollars and time to help their child get the edge. Coaches and their programs have become ” athletic scholarship farm teams “ with no down time, going 24-7-365.
Unfortunately many have missed the real scholarship opportunity. There are many more academic scholarships than there are athletic scholarships. Perhaps time at the library in the summer, reading a book, hitting the knowledge-based camp, might just be the true path for the college scholarship. Time away from the sport for both the athlete and coach can be both mentally and physically invigorating.
Today those innocent home town sporting events are not only broadcast on radio, but some are now broadcast on local and national T V as games are played across state borders. The pressure to win has now gone Hollywood as they say. The stakes are even higher and the athletes are now expected to be one step faster, one pound stronger and jump one inch higher.
THE SOLUTION
Year around sports are currently the norm. The powers that be must step in and rescue, not only the coach, but the athlete and all families involved. We as coaches must be vocal in our support of what is really best for kids today. Insert hands off time. From July 1 to August 15, its hands off time. This will still give coaches a couple weeks after school ends and a couple weeks before school to work with athletes, attend camps and participate in all-star games.
If an athlete decides to participate in a club sport, then let it be a choice and not another requirement. We must trust club coaches and encourage them to put kids first and not their egos. Even club coaches and participants need down time.
Fortunately for all parties involved, there is an O F F switch. It requires very little effort to select the right button on the blender. Perhaps it’s time to sit down and look at both the high speed button and the off switch. There is a time to hit the off button. It’s July 1 to August 15. It might require more effort to hit the off switch and a lot of pressure from outside forces. If coaches unite, you’ll have many hands hitting the off button. Eventually left on high, the motor will burn out. Let’s not allow ourselves or our athletes to be that motor.
Coach Hoddle is the Track and Field Clinic Director for the Northwest Track and Field Clinic to be held at the SeaTac Double Tree, February 11-12, 2011. He can be reached at bhoddle@usa.net or click here to go to his site.
Do you agree with Coach Hoddle’s solution? We would love your thoughts and comments below!