Burn out & the impact on temporary or early retirement
The aspect of mental health is gaining more and more prominence and importance in sport. Lately, athletes, coaches, psychologists and the media have been expressing the possible affectation of the mental health of athletes, due to a great variety of pressure factors and demands of the competition.
Many times the athlete experiences an emotional storm because during the competition there is a high excitement for the development of the activity that is mixed with the expectations of the result.
The distress of sports participation, the stress of family problems, the mood state, the level of confidence, the formulation and knowledge of objectives, the recognition of expectations, the evaluation of injuries and self-esteem are factors that allow us to assess the level of psychological well-being.
It is known that stress (lack of resources available to the person are not sufficient to cope with external environmental demands) and anxiety (fear and uncertainty response to upcoming situations) contribute to disenjoyment and preoccupation about performance, which is often related to psychological exhaustion, also known as "Burnout".
Burnout refers to the progressive loss of energy and motivation, appearing fatigue, increased irritability and loss of enthusiasm, produced by working hard for too long in high-pressure situations.
There is a real concern about the relationship between suffering and quitting sport, which does not discriminate between those in high performance and amateur sport, and it may even be that the intense pressures experienced during childhood give rise to the "internal fire" that consumes the motivation of athletes.
A recent trend in sports burnout research has involved the use of motivational theories as a means to improve understanding of burnout. The approach makes sense, as lack of motivation and loss of enthusiasm appear to be vital components of the burnout experience.
While it is not the purpose of this article to elaborate on the various theories, we will briefly mention three of them:
The Achievement Goals Theory starts from the premise that athletes who are primarily task-oriented judge their skill level based on a process of comparison with themselves, focus on self-improvement, and exhibit a self-referential success criterion; in contrast, more ego-oriented people demonstrate whether or not they are competent by comparing themselves with others, their emphasis is on outperforming others. A high task orientation and motivational climate, and a low ego-centered orientation and motivational climate are related to lower levels of burnout.
Self-Determination Theory proposes that people are motivated to satisfy their basic needs for autonomy, demonstrate competence within their activity of interest, and experience an intense sense of relatedness with others. Satisfaction of the basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness are negatively related to burnout, while non-fulfillment of these are positively related to burnout.
The Commitment Theory suggests that athletes who participate in sport "because they have to" are different from those who get involved "because they want to". The latter are more likely to suffer from burnout, being "trapped", involved because they "have to" and have experiences of high costs, low benefits and levels of satisfaction.
The big question is: How to stop in time the spiral of saturation that leads to burnout? The earlier it is detected, the greater the probability of working the syndrome and getting the athlete back on track in his or her sporting activity. Extreme fatigue: feeling of not being able to recover. Symptoms that appear:
- Depersonalization: teammates or coaches are seen as things, no longer have emotional connection with them, no longer care about what happens to them.
- Demotivation: no longer find reasons to train. Knowing the level of enjoyment of the athlete helps to ensure that motivation is not a problem.
- Perception of lack of achievement: What is the athlete's perception of sporting achievement and importance (success-failure)? The ability to cope with the demands of training and competition are low or non-existent.
- Interpersonal conflicts: attention should be paid to the conflicts that the athlete has.
It could be said that there are three phases in the development of the consequences of "BurnOut" syndrome that follow one after the other: The feeling of enthusiasm and energy begins to diminish. Abandonment and anguish appear. Loss of confidence and self-esteem, depression, alienation and abandonment are perceived.
The consequences can be physiological and behavioral, expressed in physical problems (illnesses, injuries), dissatisfaction with the lifestyle they lead or with their sport-related role, unfulfilled expectations, decreased enjoyment, concentration problems, negative feelings and feelings of isolation.
Many tour players made visible and publicly expressed their psychological problems and have been known to quit tennis because they prioritize their perceived psychological well-being over sporting competition.
Ashleigh Barty left the world speechless after announcing that, at the age of 25 and ranked highest in the WTA rankings, she will leave professional tennis. Is retirement a totally voluntary and free decision? At the best moment of her career, when she seemed to have no rivals in the fight for new goals, she claimed to have fulfilled all her dreams and expressed the desire to go for new ones.
"I no longer have the physical drive, the emotional desire or everything it takes to keep challenging yourself at the highest level. I'm exhausted."
"My happiness was no longer dependent on results. I have no more to give and that for me is my great success, to have given tennis everything I have inside me."
Naomi Osaka, former world No. 1 and four-time GS champion did not bear the burden of being the focus of attraction. She refused to talk to the media to preserve her mental health and decided to retire at the 2021 edition of Roland Garros. The Japanese tennis player would have suffered long bouts of depression since she won her first GS title, three years earlier.
Emma Raducanu admitted that she had had many setbacks (plus injuries and operations), one after the other, which led her to think that she wished she had never won the US Open. The Briton had become the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam. Glory was followed by spotlights, contracts, fame and money... but success is not all that it seems.
She decided to take a break to give her body and head time. "My self-esteem is very connected to my achievements. When I lost a match I was depressed, I spent a day mourning, I was under a lot of pressure, it's much harder when you make mistakes in front of everyone and everyone has something to say about it."
Mid-year, Amanda Anisimova - the 21-year-old American and former world number 21 - also reportedly opted for an indefinite break citing exhaustion and concern for her mental health: "It has become unbearable to be at tennis tournaments."
Joining the list is Maria Sakkari, who went through a complicated moment in her career. She reached top ten WTA and in 2021 she made semi finals at Roland Garros and US Open; year in which she had retired without announcing her decision. "I was struggling because I could see the finish line, but then I couldn't win the match. My mind was going so far that I couldn't close it out. I was too emotional. I was close, but not at the same time."
This year the results did not appear and she was dismissed in the first round at RG, Wimbledon and US Open. After being eliminated in the last GS of the season, she broke down in tears at a press conference: "Maybe I need to stop, I'm suffering on the court, but I can't make that decision now, it's very hard. My mind is not clear".
The Greek tennis player had made it clear that she was making a great effort in the psychological part and it reflects in her words:
"I believe that being mentally stable, mentally happy and mentally in a good place, that's going to bring tennis to a good place. So for me the goal in the last tournaments of the season is to be as positive as possible, as good as I can be with myself and enjoy like I did the last two years here because it's one of the nicest tournaments for me and it feels great to be back."
It took a while to arrive but in the end there was reward for Maria, who not only was crowned champion of the WTA 1000 Guadalajara, but also bid to get into the WTA Finals!
Taking these antecedents of early retirement or temporary retirement, we can consider some strategies for the prevention of sports burnout:
1) It's necessary to know the athlete's environment, expectations and pressures.
2) Establish short-term goals that favor the perception of improvement and success.
3) Provide a space with professional trainers to manage emotions that allows the athlete to express his or her feelings in a safe environment.
4) Balance the amount and intensity of training, rest and adequate recovery. The need for a pause, a break to avoid a possible end point.
5) Acquire and train relaxation techniques that allow the athlete to manage stress and pressures.
By Guada Gimenez
