When coaches burnout: Understanding the phenomenon from the perspective of high performance coaches

Coaching is a challenging and complex profession, and those who assume the role of a coach take on numerous responsibilities. The profession consists of "endless dilemmas and decision-making, requiring constant planning, observation, evaluation, and reaction" (Bowes & Jones, 2006, p. 235). Burnout in coaching has been studied from a number of different perspectives, including interpersonal and situational predictors of burnout, gender differences and burnout, stress and burnout, and coach commitment and burnout, but to date, "there have been no entirely qualitative studies" (Goodger, Gorely, Lavallee, & Harwood, 2007, p. 142). The purpose of the present study was to explore the phenomenon of burnout from coaches' perspectives, using a qualitative approach. Twelve coaches at the varsity and national level were interviewed. Research findings indicate that issues such as the performance demands of coaching, difficulties with athletes, athletic directors, or members of board of directors, and lack of financial and human resources, contributed to feelings of exhaustion, frustration, and a loss of passion for coaching, which led to burnout and inevitably, leaving the world of coaching