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Although it is relatively easy to conjure an image of an athlete who has experienced burnout, athlete burnout is not yet well understood and has been depicted by a variety of definitions. One common definition of athlete burnout is a psychological, emotional, and physical withdrawal from sport due to chronic stress (Smith, 1986). An alternative definition used in human service and coaching research describes burnout as a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment (Maslach & Jackson, 1984). The purpose of this study was to examine coaches' experiential knowledge to triangulate existing academic definitions and coaches' perspectives to describe defining signs and symptoms of athlete burnout. USA Swimming senior coaches (N = 13) were interviewed to characterize their viewpoints on defining signs/symptoms of athlete burnout. Coaches' views on causes/preventive strategies were also examined to obtain additional insights on how they construed this issue. Content analysis resulted in the following definition: A withdrawal from swimming noted by a reduced sense of accomplishment, devaluation/resentment of sport, and physical/psychological exhaustion. Coaches also depicted a variety of stress-related factors thought to contribute to burnout as well as strategies to prevent its occurrence.
Burnout is a buzzword in the athletic community that has raised considerable concern from coaches and sport psychologists. Reflecting its importance to the athletic community, burnout has been addressed in numerous articles geared toward coaches, athletes, and parents in a variety of sport magazines. Undoubtedly, the term burnout is appealing because it enables most individuals to conjure a vivid image of burnout. For example, burnout is like a candle that once glowed brightly, began to flicker, and eventually extinguished. This analogy suggests the image of bright, promising young athletes who get fed up with sport participation and stop competing at what should be the top of their career. Although burnout is often discussed in the sport community, the empirical database on athlete burnout is not well developed (Coakley, 1992; Cohn, 1990; Gould, Tuffey, Udry, & Loehr, 1996; Gould, Tuffey, Udry, & Loehr, 1997; Gould, Udry, Tuffey, & Loehr, 1996; Price & Weiss, 2000; Raedeke, 1997; Silva, 1990; Vealey, Armstrong, Comar, & Greenleaf, 1998). Consequently, athlete burnout is an important applied issue that is not yet well understood.
At this point in knowledge development, researchers...