When we are little, about four or five years old, most parents sign their kids up for some sort of youth sport. Deep down, every parent secretly hopes that their child is the next LeBron James, Michael Phelps, or Simone Biles. Whether it’s soccer, basketball, swimming, gymnastics, or a multitude of other athletics, from a young age we are involved in multiple sports. However, as we get older, we tend to tend to weed out the sports that we do not feel a particular connection to, or don’t have high aspirations in. Those with said higher level potential often narrow down the sports they until their entire focus is on one sport. Unfortunately, with this level of pressure and dedication, often athletes discontinue their sports. They no longer posses the passion they once held. With so much outside pressure, it can be understood why athletes become mentally worn down. At points, it seems that we as a society put add to the pressure of young athletes. With the media the way it is today people criticize athletes with every little misstep and hiccup in the road. 

This slippery slope leads to athletes no longer being able to enjoy the game they once loved. Parents, coaches, and even oneself can lead to athlete burnout, which is defined as “emotional and physical exhaustion, an impersonal attitude toward others…decreased athletic accomplishment / performance [and] lack of meaning… in reaction to chronic stress of training and competition” (Raedeke and Smith 282). Athlete burnout is a complicated issue with influences and causes ranging from the dynamic of relationships with coaches and parents to perfectionism, motivation and being over worked in the training process from sports specialization. 

It is important to note that in athlete burnout does not have one concrete definition. This is a topic that has been heavily debated over that last decade, and is ever changing as it becomes more and more researched. Physically, athlete burnout can be put as simply as over training with not enough rest. When an athlete pushes himself or herself to an extreme, and they can no longer push their bodies any further. In addition, especially at the collegiate level, athlete have to keep up with academic as well maintain what they deem is a successful social life. These characteristics eventually lead to strain on the body adding to the lack of rest and recovery. With this in mind, it is important to recognize the stronger implications of the mental aspect of athlete burnout.  The mentality of athletes is often what makes or breaks them. Whether there is pressure from parents, coaches or even oneself, the negative emotions that come with athletics often times disrupt the talent of gifted athletes. With all of this added pressure, it can be understood why so often athletes become tired of pushing themselves to their limits. Sports are to be enjoyed by those watching as well as those who are playing them. So much added pressure leads to unnecessary stress on the athletes, causing the athlete to lose passion in their sports and burnout. 

While athlete burnout is something that will always exist, it is important to recognize the alarming rise in cases. Not only does this threaten the athlete, but also it will begin to affect the sport if the problem continues to grow at such a rapid rate. With this growth, there will be a rise in trips to the emergency room due to athletic injury. In addition, without awareness, families could be innocently pushing their child, instead of getting a tweak checked out which could lead to long-term medical problems as well as a large financial burden on the family. This is a problem becoming more and more of an issue, so much so that the NCAA, or the National Collegiate Athletic Association, is taking the time to research the subject and disclose information about the subject. The NCAA reported that there are now intense training programs that overload athletes in order to obtain maximum training.  Stating, “there is a school of thought in American sport today that “more is better.”  Parents and coaches, perhaps dreaming of the spoils of athletic success, are encouraging kids at increasingly younger ages to specialize in a particular sport and to commit to year-round training in it” (Kaufman).  With the emphasis on “more is better” athletes put unnecessary stress on their bodies, paired with insufficient rest leading to burnout. 

The root of the problem starts at a young age. When young kids are thrown into multiple sports from the start, adding a large amount of stress is put on their bodies. Youth sports are stressed even more than years past because of the rise in childhood obesity (Merkel 153). While youth sports can battle this epidemic, there are many negative aspects to youth sports as well. With the increase in young athletes, there has been an increase in traumatic and overuse injuries. An estimated 2.6 million people between the ages of 5 and 24 went to the emergency room. Not all of these were because of a sports injury, but that number will continue to rise as the numbers of young athletes rises. Furthermore, there is in an increase in number of unreported injuries, as athletes do not want to miss time practicing and conditioning. Although we can’t prevent all injuries, over 67 percent of injuries come from over working in practice, and over half of those injuries are a direct result of over use (Merkel 151).  

In addition to the multiple sports, part of the problem of athlete burnout can stem from youth athlete sports specialization. Sports specialization is defined as, “intense, year-round training in a single sport with the exclusion of other sports,” however there are disparities in what volume of training is “intense” (Jayanthi et al. 252). The argument is that if a child is to specialize at a young age, they are more likely to achieve beyond others who do not. Parents believe that if their child starts to focus on one sport at around the age of seven or eight they will reach their goals. However, in a survey of 376 Division 1 female athletes, it was found that only 17 percent focused on their sport of expertise. In reality the majority of these athletes participated in several sports growing up, and started to concentrate on one or two sports in high school (Jayanthi et al 255).  Also, research shows that early diversification later followed but specialization can lead to “lead to more enjoyment, fewer injuries, and longer participation, contributing to the chances of success. Because of this, high schools around the country are trying to encourage their student athletes to continue to play multiple sports while they still can. A high school in New Mexico is offering incentives for students that play multiple sports.  Students in different grades receive unique prizes for participating in more than one sport. This includes multisport patches for their lettermen jackets given to juniors and watches gifted to seniors. This goes to show how people are beginning to recognize that sports specialization does not benefit the athlete as much as people believe. There are even several well know professional athletes, including Jordan Spieth, members of the U.S. Women’s National Soccer team, and Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer are just a few who have publicly criticized year-round specialization. Claiming that it leads to more injuries as well as pressures that lead to eventual burnout (Voigt). 

Conversely, some will argue that there are benefits to sports specialization starting from a young age. This early focus on one sport does hold several positive features. For example, when an athlete concentrates on a sport from a young age they develop and master the skills that pertain to their sport. People believe “the acquisition, development, and proficiency of motor skills related to success in a given sport” start as early as the age of 7, and if you do not start an organized sport, there will be a lack in a skill execution (Wiersma 14). While this could be true, the benefits of specialization do not out weight the negative aspects. For instance, specialization “may potentially limit overall motor skill development, which has implications for long-term physical activity patterns” (Wiersma 15).  When athletes focus on one sport, they train the same way over and over. Swimmer, for example, train horizontally, while soccer players, unless in goal, are taught not to use their hands. Because of this, long-term health is compromised by not learning other generic skills.

As well as physical aspects, it is important to recognize the psychological side too. Perfectionism is a large part of athlete’s success, as well as their burnout. Perfectionism, defined as a disposition to regard anything short of perfection as unacceptable (Merriam-Webster). One can argue that perfectionism sets a high standard for athletes to strive for, as well as a way to constantly push them to be the best that one can be.  However, in its most constrictive form, perfectionism squeezes the life out of the people who dream big. This is especially common in athlete with high aspirations.  This sense of the need for perfectionism can be damaging to athletes and their careers. Currently, athletes are pushed to such great lengths to be the next LeBron James or Simone Biles that they often lose site in the fact that no one is perfect. They feel that in order to reach their goals, they can be nothing short of perfect in every way. Striving for this perfection leads athletes to not only train harder, but also lose site in what made them fall in love with the sport in the first place.  This causes the athlete to believe that they constantly have to get better. There can be few to no off days. Every time they train this perfectionist mentality leads to mental strain that is difficult to come back from. Athletes often wear themselves ragged trying to reach an unattainable goal. 

However, some may argue that an inner sense of perfection is what drives and motivates elite athletes to keep push, and to succeed. While there are parts of that statement that are true, for the most part, they are too simplistic to grasp the many aspects of perfectionism and motivation. There are many different types, with different causes and effects. For example there is amotivation, which is “sometimes described as the motivational signature of athlete burnout, involves a lack of intention to act as a consequence of not valuing an activity” (Barcza-Renner 31).  With this said, it can be seen how an athlete can no longer be motivated by the reward and achievement of their actions. Additionally, there are characteristics of perfectionism that also have been shown to fuel athlete burnout. Socially prescribed perfectionism “involves an intrapersonal need to pursue perfection accompanied by compulsive self-directed strivings…perceived to be externally imposed by valued significant others, including coaches” (Barcza-Renner 31).  This branch of perfectionism combined with self-oriented perfectionism, “an intrapersonal need to pursue perfection accompanied by compulsive self- directed striving” (Barcza-Renner 31), can be good for and athlete. However we run into a problem when the balance between the two is shifted towards socially prescribed perfectionism. Barcza-Renner states that, “research has shown that athlete burnout is positively associated with socially prescribed perfectionism” (Barcza-Renner 31).  Which means if one happens odds are, the other will. Because of this, it is important for an athlete, and their support system to recognize when the athlete is no longer striving to be better because they want to. Athletes’ burnout when they feel that outside pressure to be perfect. It damages their ability to see the little things that they achieve, and accept that sometimes you are going to fail. 

In addition to the relationship with oneself, it is important to touch on the relationships with coaches as well. Coaches are to serve mentors and as teachers, but when this relationship is strained, it puts an additional stress on the athlete. This relationship is the “create[s] [a] motivational climate and social support, influence athlete motivation, well-being and performance. ” (Gustafsson et al. 210). When an athlete sees their coach react to something that occurs in a game or in practice, naturally they react as well. Some internalize it, some use it to fuel their game, and regardless, coaching, negative, or positive impacts a player’s mentality. When a coach is constantly negative, even when there is little to be negative about, players start to recognize this a failure. Eventually, a player can realize that he or she might never be good enough. While that may not be true because of the negative relationship with the coach, the athlete feels they will never meet their coach’s standard. It is important as a coach, to be able to balance the positivity and the negativity because a well-balanced coach improves an athlete.  Athlete burnout can be diminished greatly if coaches took time, and stepped back and realized that all negativity all the time hurts the athlete in the long run. A positive relationship allows the athlete to have one less factor to stress over. Coaches that are more focused on the mental well being of their players can help to decrease the number of athlete burnouts. Sometimes it is hard as a coach to keep a level head, remain calm, and even show empathy towards their athletes, as they want to succeed to the best of their ability. Coaches need to understand “athletes experiencing high levels of burnout described their coaches as being less empathetic, more autocratic, prone to communicating dispraise, and placing an emphasis on winning rather than improvement” (Barcza-Renner 31).  It is important for coaches to balance criticism and praise in order to help lessen the number of athletes that burnout, and fall out of love of the game because they feel that they will never be good enough. 

Parents also play an important role in athlete development, even more so than coaches

With perfectionism mixed in, it can be easily seen how something that their child once loved can turn into a chore.  Parents are put into our lives to do all that a child can’t. Whether it is financial support, emotional support, or transportation, parents are there to help kids succeed. Unfortunately sometimes this responsibility turns the parent into an added source of pressure as opposed to the calming factor they sometimes need to be. Parents need to understand how they act and how speak towards their child can impact their play. In addition to the coach, if the parent is not a source of kindness and empathy when needed, it can damage the athlete.  They need to understand that they “can be a source of pressure or a source of pressure, which can either provoke or buffer athletes against burnout” (Aunola 60). Parents sometimes get caught up in the potential and do not realize that when they push their child, it adds an additional stress for the athlete to please and often leads to socially prescribed perfectionism, where, as stated early, the athlete is no longer playing for the satisfaction of themselves, but rather of those around them. If parents were to be more aware of how their actions impact their athlete, they could prevent their child from potentially burning out. 

Overall, athlete burnout get be traced back to a myriad of causes, easily split into two categories. First, the physical aspects of athlete burnout, which often stems from sports specialization as well as over use and over training, contribute largely to burnout. Additionally, the drive to specialize and to over train often comes from a deeper issue, the connection and relationship with parents coaches, and even oneself. The term perfectionism is often misunderstood and over simplified. People do not realize the impact that it has on psyche of the athlete. While some sense of goal setting and achievement is good, it is important that the athlete is playing in order to please themselves, because they want to, and because they love the sport they play. When an athlete’s relationship with the sport they love is damaged by outside pressure such as parents and coaches. This leads the athlete to develop the mindset of constantly pushing to get better, pushing to please those around them rather than to have fun, enjoy the game they play and to make every day a learning experience.
