Burnout in South African provincial cricket and rugby coaches

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the current literature on burnout in the coaching profession, and to determine the prevalence and cyclical nature of burnout in South African provincial cricket and rugby coaches, as well as the extent to which these provincial coaches differ with regards to the level of burnout they experienced over the course of their respective seasons. For this investigation the total accessible target population from the provincial under 19 (n= l l) and senior cricket coaches (n= l l), and senior provincial rugby coaches (n=40) in South Africa was used. The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) (Maslach & Jackson, 1981a) was used to determine the level of burnout for the two groups of coaches over the course of their seasons. Burnout levels were predicted on three subscales, namely, Emotional Exhaustion, Depersonalisation, and Personal Accomplishment. This inventory, and a demographic data questionnaire were mailed to each coach at the start of their season, and the MBI again at the middle and end of the respective seasons in the self addressed envelope provided. In each instance a follow-up letter was sent to the coaches who had not responded after a few weeks. On average, a response rate of 55% was obtained over the course of the season. lV Data was analysed by means of descriptive data statistics, which indicated that on average, both groups of coaches scored low on all three the subscales at the start, middle and end of the season. Simple analysis of variance indicated that no significant increases or decreases occurred on any of the average scores of burnout over the course of their respective seasons. Independent t-tests indicated that the average scores of the provincial cricket and rugby coaches did not differ significantly during any stage of the season. However, an individual analysis showed that there was a decrease in the percentage of coaches experiencing burnout from the start to the middle of the season, with a substantial increase towards the end of the season; that more provincial rugby than cricket coaches experienced moderate to high levels of burnout over the course of their respective competitive seasons; and that most of the coaches who were suffering from burnout experienced it in the form of personal accomplishment, i.e. they were feeling incompetent about their coaching, and/ or they felt as if they had not achieved much through their coaching. The recommendations and implications these results hold for sport psychology and the coach are then discussed.