Coach and Athlete Burnout - West Virginia University

team sports may prefer more of an autocratic style of decision-making than athletes
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taking part in a coactive sport such as swimming. Although swimming can be considered
a team sport, the nature of training and competition is such that members often participate
individually. Partially due to the mere nature of their sport, swimmers’ responses to the
inventories may have reflected the preference for a democratic style which would help
explain why more democratic than autocratic behaviors were reported by both swimmers
and swimming coaches. It might also explain why a democratic perception of decision-
making style was more strongly and consistently linked to burnout in swimmers in the
present study compared to an autocratic perception.
The results of the swimmers’ data mirror those of previous research examining
the influences of coach leadership on athlete burnout within a multidimensional model of
leadership. Price and Weiss (2000) and Vealey et al. (1998) also found the perception of
an autocratic decision-making style among athletes to be linked to greater athlete
burnout. Price and Weiss further revealed in their study that athletes perceiving their
coach to utilize more of a democratic style of leadership also reported feeling less burnt
out. Because democratic coaches elicit feedback from their athletes regarding decisions
about their team, these athletes may perceive to have more control over and meaning in
their sport participation. These perceptions may help act as a buffer against the physical
and psychological stressors that, over time, can eventually lead to burnout if untreated.
On the other hand, autocratic coaches do not invite feedback from their athletes. This
could contribute to a lack of perceived control and meaning among athletes regarding
their sport involvement and could partially contribute to an extreme training environment
that Vealey et al. (1998) noted athletes cite as the most significant cause of burnout. The