Blog articles are often based around keyword phrases that are generated automatically by some program, and the one for today is, “how to coach burnout-athlete-sport-player.” If anyone is looking for the keyword phrase, “how to coach burnout-athlete-sport-player,” they may want to go back and take English 101 again or read a grammar book. I realize that the Internet wasn’t built by grammar addicts, but this one may be pushing the grammatically incorrect envelope just a bit!

What Does, How to Coach Burnout-Athlete-Sport-Player, Mean?

Though this grammatically incorrect phrase may seem unwieldy and ponderous, there is a real need for coaches to learn how to effectively handle the sport player or athlete who has become a burnout. Especially for young athletes. We’ll let the Phil Jacksons of the world work with the difficult pro player, but for coaches of young athletes, it is important to recognize burnout and then learn how to deal with it.

Coaches looking to propel their team, or personal coaches looking to push their clients to attain the highest level of achievement need to understand how to coach burnout-athletes-sports-players. If you can’t successfully deal with this type of athlete, you may have trouble succeeding as a coach.

Why Does Burnout Happen?

All athletes experience burnout at some time. Even pro athletes have to fight through bouts of lethargy and burnout. For young players, burnout is much more common, and it can lead to young kids dropping a specific sport or dropping sports competition completely. These young athletes get burned out for a variety of reasons, including:

• Excessive demand by coaches.
• Anxiety and tension while playing or preparing for a game.
• Excessive demand by family and friends.
• Inability to deal with tougher competition as the athlete gets older and moves up to higher levels of play.
• Interests begin to vary as a young athlete goes through puberty and matures.

How to Prevent Burnout

There are a few ways to help prevent young athletes from burning out that can be applied by both coaches and parents. Here are a few of the best ways to keep the young sports player motivated:

• Limit the time on the playing field (this includes practice)
• Limit the travel time. Most good young athletes play “travel ball.” This is generally a good thing for their skills, but too much of a good thing can be a bad thing.
• Help the young athlete learn stress and anger management techniques. Even the best players experience stress.
• Limit the amount of parental coaching. It’s not bad for parents to coach recreational sports, but travel ball is usually better if it is coached by independent coaches who will neither favor a young player of put too much stress of the athletes.
• Limit the amount of criticism. Many experts agree that there should be at least five positive comments for every one negative comment, and negative comments should never denigrate or humiliate.
• Have fun. Yes, sports is work, even for the young athlete, but never take all the fun out of the game.

A complete lesson on how to coach burnout-athlete-sport-player is beyond the scope of one small article. But, even though the keyword, “how to coach burnout-athlete-sport-player” is a bit strange and certainly grammatically incorrect, it is an essential component of good coaching, especially at the youth level.

Give this strategy a try and see for yourself that it works. If you liked this coaching tip, leave a comment or use the handy bookmark buttons below to share it with others on Facebook, Twitter, Digg, etc. Thanks!

Fred Philips
Business Coach
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