Athlete Burnout: College vs. High School Athletes

By Michaela Dykes, Preston Sisson, Dominic Speybroeck, and Katie Waters

Athlete Burnout Athletic levels of competition vary in conditions, the environment, and even coaching styles. These factors have many implications in an athlete’s career. Differences in academics, coaching, and the environment in which athletes are exposed to can affect burnout. Age and adjusting to life changes, prevention and management of stressors that cause burnout, and the impact of career trajectories on performance into retirement all affect athletic burnout factors for all age groups. This blog post will investigate these factors for two levels of sport: high school vs. college athletes.

Review of the Scientific Literature

Burnout is different for high school and college athletes. Most high school athletes who burn out do not continue to play in college. When an individual is in high school and burns out and decides to quit their activity, it has little effect on their life course. If a student is in college and has their education paid for, they may feel trapped in a sport. When an athlete attends college, they face additional pressures like being away from home alone, having to balance new academics, and attempting to manage a social life on top of everything (Sitzler, 2016). College students may struggle to quit their sport after burnout since they have played the sport for most of their lives. They may feel as if they are losing part of their identity.

One main factor that affects burnout is major stress. Burnout is conceptualized as a training stress syndrome where too much stress can first produce staleness (Kaufman, 2014). Staleness is defined by a clear drop in athlete motivation and a plateau in performance. Along with stress, athletes are faced with a loss of motivation. When the burnout stage arises, individuals tend to face a lack of intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is when one has a drive to do something because it is interesting or brings them joy. According to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, intrinsic motivation has been linked to superior athletic performance, including the peak performance state known as flow (Kaufman, 2014).

When an athlete no longer finds their sport joyful anymore or something they feel they thrive in they tend to not care as much, which leads to less practice, decreased performance, and sometimes injuries. Transitioning to retirement can be equally challenging. The career demands often prevent athletes from preparing for life after sport, leaving many feelings unprepared and struggling to adapt to new routines (Tapia, 2021). Financial instability, loss of identity, and physical health issues are common in the post-athletic phase.

Burnout in athletes is usually caused by different factors at the high school and college levels, but there are key differences between the two on why burnout occurs. High school athletes are usually less focused on their academics and have less responsibility than college athletes. College athletes must maintain a good GPA to keep their scholarships or just to be able to compete in general (Lopes Dos Santos, 2020). This can add a lot of extra pressure to college athletes. They may also think quitting their sport is the only option to succeed in college.

Coaching is another significant difference between high school and college sports. In high school, coaches often have a lot less resources and experience than a college coach, especially when it comes to managing an athlete’s mental health. A high school coach is usually more focused on winning and individual performances, which causes more pressure at the high school level; this is especially true with an unexperienced coach. College coaches on the other hand tend to have a lot more experience, and they know how to professionally train and oversee an athlete’s body and mental state.

The most crucial factor in recovering from burnout is rest. Most studies come to a consensus in agreeing that optimism, mindfulness, and adaptive behavior are strong prevention strategies when it comes to managing stressors to prevent burnout in athletes in all age ranges. Three main factors contribute to an athlete’s propensity to burn out. These factors are emotional and physical exhaustion, reduced sense of accomplishment, and sport devaluation (Moen et al., 2015). Prevention of these factors can only be fixed through rest. Mindfulness is also a crucial factor to implement in athletes’ lives, especially young athletes to prevent burnout. This mindfulness can contribute to athletes developing resilience and optimism which shows a negative correlation with burnout (Tutte-Vallarino et al., 2022).

Implications for the Practitioner

Overall, the research conducted through scientific literature has shown that prevention and management techniques need to apply on all levels of competition. The symptoms of burnout are similar for high school and college athletes. Coaching plays a significant role in how burnout is managed and how often it occurs for athletes at both levels. This includes experience levels among different coaches. Inexperienced coaching has a big influence on the propensity of athletes to burn out. Preventing inexperience or high expectations is important in preventing burnout to occur in athletes. The stakes and stressors of high school and college athletes remain vastly different. This includes high school athletes’ schoolwork load and idea that college athletes must maintain a higher GPA in order to continue to participate in their sport. These expectations are large influences on athletes losing motivation and quitting their sport because of burnout. The only treatment at both levels is found to be rest. The practitioner can employ proactive mental health treatment, planned rest times for athletes who are displaying burnout symptoms, and training for coaches to understand what burnout looks like in different athletes.

Conclusion

Overall, high school and college burnouts are similar, but they are also very different. This is caused by different things like academics, coaching and environmental pressure at various levels. High school athletes often face less pressure, but they do not always have the same support and resources as college athletes. College athletes have more pressure and higher expectations. These factors go alongside with more intense competition. These factors together can lead an athlete to develop burnout.

References

Kaufman, K. (2014, December 10). Understanding Student-Athlete Burnout. NCAA.org. https://www.ncaa.org/sports/2014/12/10/understanding-student-athlete-burnout.aspx

Lopes Dos Santos, M. (2020). Stress in academic and athletic performance in collegiate athletes: A narrative review of sources and monitoring strategies. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 2(42). https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2020.00042

Moen, F., Federici, R., & Abrahamsen, F. (2015). Examining possible Relationships between mindfulness, stress, school and sport performances and athlete burnout. International Journal of Coaching Science, 9(1). Google Scholar.

Sitzler, B. (2016, April 19). Burnout in Athletes. National Athletic Trainers Association. https://www.nata.org/nata-now/articles/2016/04/burnout-athletes

Tapia, A. (2021, September 4). 20 Athletes Who Retired Earlier than Expected. Newsweek. https://www.newsweek.com/20-athletes-who-retired-earlier-expected-1625675

Tutte-Vallarino, V., Malán-Ernst, E., Reyes-Bossio, M., Peinado-Portero, A., de Álvaro, J. I., Ortín Montero, F. J., & Garcés de Los Fayos Ruiz, E. J. (2022). Relationship between resilience, optimism, and burnout in Pan-American athletes. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1048033