An Investigation into How the Intense Nature of Youth Sport Participation Influences Women’s Collegiate Basketball Player’s Experiences of Burnout

Abstract

Burnout is one area of athlete well-being garnering increasing attention (Coakley, 1992; Gould & Whitley, 2009). Burnout can cause athletes to become disempowered in their sport participation, leading to fatigue and dropout. Therefore, efforts to reduce athletes’ likelihood of experiencing burnout are important. Further, often overlooked in the college athlete literature are the experiences of college athletes’ youth sport experience, even though almost all college athletes participate in competitive youth sport. Guided by the conceptual framing of burnout (Coakley, 1992; Raedeke & Smith, 2001) and Côté and Vierimaa’s (2014) developmental model of sport participation, the study sought to examine the youth sport experience of current and former college athletes to determine how youth sport experiences of burnout influenced their experiences of burnout at the collegiate level. Findings from eleven semi-structured interviews suggest youth sport experiences impact athletes’ experiences of burnout at the collegiate level, although the excitement surrounding athletes’ transition to college often represses burnout. Implications for athletic department administrators, as well as youth sport providers for addressing burnout are introduced.