Softball Coaching – Preventing and Treating Burnout

By Sharon Drysdale
Head Coach – Northwestern University

Coaching is a challenging profession! Coaching can be stressful and burnout can result.

According to the Burnout Susceptibility Profile (Vernacchia, Level 2 USA Coaching Education Program), individuals who are susceptible to burnout are profiled as: extremely, goal oriented, idealistic/altruistic, high achievers, highly responsible, perfectionists, success driven.

In my opinion, coaching burnout is a transformation from energetic, involved, accomplished, capable, “spirited” coach to exhausted, bored, withdrawn, cynical, ineffective, “burned out” coach.

There are varying degrees of burnout and not everyone will express it in the same way. Whether you are at a low, moderate or severe level of burnout depends upon the frequency, intensity and duration of signs and symptoms.

Signs and Symptoms

• Exhaustion
• Depersonalization
• Reduced sense of personal accomplishment
• Inconsistent or declining job performance.

Burnout can and probably will affect you in some way, to some extent, at one time or another.

I believe that burnout is a condition that is continuously present in all of us, at one level or another. The nature of the burnout experience, however, is personal and unique – different for each of us.
Nevertheless, we can all end up in the same place, feeling much the same way.