Is burnout real?
It's a question that came up the other day, and it's a question that I've encountered throughout my career. It's a question that can go many directions at the same time, but always seems to follow one of two paths.
Burnout is real.
Burnout is not real.
I define burnout as the individual no longer being interested in competing in a given sport or in athletics in general. The drive required to compete at a high level no longer exists.
So with that said...
Burnout is real
Burnout as we know it typically comes from one of five starting points.
- Training intensity.
- Lack of recovery.
- Time in the sport.
- A lack of progress either individually or as a program.
- Repeated, reasonable injuries.
Burnout does not need to limited to a single reason, and burnout can come from other reasons beyond those listed. But what is listed above is typically what I've run into when it comes to burnout.
I can hear those of you involved in collegiate athletics wondering where academics falls. Academics are not a cause of burnout. In my opinion. I've yet to encounter an athlete who says they're burned out of a sport due to academics. They will tell me that they don't have enough time - the usual excuse - or that they need to focus on grades, but I've yet to run into an athlete who tells me that they are burned out of a sport due to academics.
Except for the first and third, all of those reasons listed above are a 50/50 responsibility for coach and athlete. Coaches determine the training intensity, and athletes decide how long they want to be involved in a sport or in athletics in general.
The usual reason I've heard for burnout in athletes is training intensity where the load is so great that they simply are unable to sustain the push and drive to complete, or compete at the level required. I don't believe that being overly intense with the training program is symptomatic of younger coaches either. I've seen it in young coaches and experienced coaches.
Repeated, reasonable injuries are simply injuries that occur regardless of the level of care and precaution exercised by all parties. Repeated ACL or MCL tears, shoulder issues, existing back issues, heart issues, etc. are all examples of repeated, reasonable injuries where the athlete simply doesn't have the desire to rehab and train again after experiencing a repeat of an injury. We see this all the time in professional athletics where an athlete will be injured, lose an entire season, come back, and be injured again.
In all cases, the athlete simply has no desire to continue in their respective sport and wants to call it a day.
Burnout is not real
This one is relatively new and seems to center around one key argument.
A lack of passion.
Because this is a newer issue - I've only recently heard anyone claim that burnout is not real - I'm not sure where to go with this as a coach.
But I know as an athlete and so I will use my personal athletic experience as a possible example.
I played soccer throughout high school, and sustained several injuries. The most major injury - in my opinion - was when I rolled and twisted my right ankle before a game, and then chose to play through the injury. I had to be helped off the field, and in the morning, my ankle had swelled to the size of a grapefruit. I had to go on crutches, and they put me in a plaster cast to prevent me from playing - they had considered an aircast.
After that injury, I tended to favor my left leg more, and that lack of balance caused me to sustain an injury to my left ankle. This time I took the time off and the injury healed quickly but both ankles were damaged.
Throughout high school, I'd entertained the idea of playing ball at the collegiate level and then coaching - I knew I wanted to coach from the get go - and I was lightly recruited by some local DIII and NAIA teams. I went to my doctor my junior year and asked him about my injuries - at this point I'd also sustained a stress or hairline fracture in my left leg but hadn't been aware of it. I was told that in order for me to consider playing at a high level, I'd need to take my senior year off, undergo surgery on both ankles, and spend my senior year rehabbing. If I started spring my junior year, I could be ready to go by summer my senior year.
At this point, I'd already discovered rowing by accident when a boat trailer had come through my hometown and had stopped at the local Fred Meyer. I'd inquired about the trailer and the sport from the trailer driver or coach, and had begun narrowing down my college choices to those with rowing programs.
After giving the whole situation some thought, I decided that I would forgo the surgeries, enjoy my senior year, and give up playing soccer for something else.
I still loved soccer. I still love soccer. But I wasn't willing to go through what was needed in order to have a chance to play in college. I didn't rate my prospects high, and the surgery wasn't required in order to continue living an active life, and so I decided that I would walk away.
I suppose that one could call this a lack of passion. A lack of passion for the sport that I'd played year round throughout high school.
Or I suppose you could call it burnout.
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