Coach and Athlete Burnout - West Virginia University

of possible scores on each of the three subscales stemming from one to five, some
Burnout 43
conclusions can be drawn. If one were to consider an average level of burnout to be the
halfway point on each subscale (two and one-half), the collegiate swimming coaches in
the present study could be considered to have reported relatively average levels of
burnout. As shown in Table 1, their scores on the depersonalization and reduced sense of
accomplishment subscales were slightly below the midpoint. These coaches also
reported slightly higher levels of emotional and physical exhaustion as indicated by a
mean score higher than the midpoint. This pattern of burnout mimics that of the
collegiate swimmers sampled in the present study.
Implications and Future Directions
As previously mentioned, research has suggested that athletes cite severe training
conditions as their most significant reason for experiencing burnout (Vealey et al., 1998).
Certainly the extreme physical conditions that are often a part of elite competitive sport
weigh heavily on this matter. However, the fact that number of hours per week spent on
swimming-related duties did not relate to or predict burnout among athletes partially
suggests that it is not simply the frequency of intense physical practices that causes
burnout. It is also important to examine the behaviors, particularly decision-making
style, of those coaches who are conducting the practice sessions. These actions may, in
part, determine if coaches and/or their athletes will be more susceptible to experiencing
burnout. Because athletes experiencing higher degrees of burnout often report coach
decision-making behaviors to be autocratic, and coaches experiencing higher levels of
burnout report more of a democratic decision-style, an incongruity may be present. As
this stands, coaches would have to make a choice: implement a decision-making style