As the competitive season winds down, it seems that the end of the season is the most stressful part of the season. NCA Nationals have come and gone, CheerSport Nationals are done, and now it's really time to grind for the one competition that matters the most: The Summit or The Cheerleading Worlds.
The athletes are drained, but so are the coaches. Coaches are working tirelessly, trying to figure out what looks best for their teams when it comes to putting a Summit/Worlds winning routine on the floor. They carefully study all their competition, review scoresheet after scoresheet to see what the judges are saying each time the team takes the floor, what to improve on, and ultimately what'll lead the team to the highest level of success.
All this combined makes for a super stressful time of year for coaches, and some of them might even experience burnout and are counting down the days for the season to be over.
What is Burnout?
Burnout is described as "a syndrome with three dimensions...The first dimension is emotional exhaustion, which is seen as the core dimension and defined as exhaustion due to prolonged work life stress...Depersonalization is the second dimension, focusing on how the individual distances her-/himself from recipients or students and ignores the things that make them human. Third, lack of personal accomplishment relates to perceived accomplishments, when both doing tasks at work and handling recipients/students" (Lundkvist et al., 2014, p. 210).
The rigorous demands that cheerleading requires of both coaches and athletes often impact both their physical and mental health. Mental health is something that isn't talked about a lot in cheerleading, and it's something that should be a top point of discussion.
Physically, Mentally, and Emotionally Tired.
It starts with the simple love for the job; You love what you do and you love your job. All the extra hours spent thinking about ways to improve your team both off and on the floor, making sure your athletes are happy, that the parents are happy with the way you're coaching, all these things factor into what really starts the burn-out process.
The coaching year seems to be never-ending. Tryouts, practices, choreography, competitions, traveling, it takes a toll on the body and the brain. With this comes exhaustion, lack of energy, sleep deprivation, and other health issues that can impact how effective a coach truly can be for their team.
A lot of coaches (myself included) will do anything to make their athletes happy and give them memorable seasons. Sometimes, I often find myself too invested, and out of touch with what's going on with my family and my friends. Whether it's watching the competition, going through scoresheets, watching videos from practices, listening to athlete feedback, I'm always doing something cheer related, and it takes over my personal life, when it really shouldn't.
Ways to Prevent Burnout From Happening
Time management is HUGE when it comes to planning out the season. Even with co-coaches, it seems like trying to cram everything that you want to accomplish in a two-hour period just isn't enough. Something that helps things flow a little smoother is having coaches take turns throughout practice taking control what the athletes are working on.
Block things out in a schedule. For example, when planning practices, block things out in time frames, so from 7:00 until 7:25, you're going to do all your warm up drills, from 7:30 until 8:15 you're going to warm up all your skills, run a couple of mark through routines to ultimately prep to go full out, things like that to help you ensure you have a productive, but scheduled practice.
Delegation. I've noticed, and I'll be the first to admit, that I tend to want to take control of practices and make sure that we're getting done what I think needs to be done in that period of time. However, giving others the chance to do the job and putting your trust in them will help not only you mentally, but it'll allow those working around you to feel like they have a sense of control and sense of authority with the athletes.
Often times, if athletes notice that there's one coach that sort of runs the whole show, they'll be more prone to going to that coach when they have questions or need help with something rather than the one or two other coaches that are assigned with the team, as they don't think those other coaches really know what's going on.
Take a Break. As difficult and strange as it sounds, take a break. I know when I would get to the point where I was about ready to snap, I would take a step back and take a night off from practice. Not that I didn't want to be around the athletes, but I knew that going to practice wasn't going to be helpful for my mental health, as I was already putting so much of my life into cheerleading, I didn't need cheerleading to be the reason I was driven to insanity. Please allow yourself to take a break and take a couple of deep breaths, at the end of the day, it's just cheerleading, it shouldn't be taking over your life.
Stay Involved. This kind of counter-acts what I just said about taking a break and not making cheerleading your life, but even if you have to take a step back from coaching, staying involved with the sport can help fight off burnout. By attending events such as the USASF National Coaches Meeting, or any event that will help you learn new techniques, tips to reinvigorate your coaching style, will be tremendously helpful as you navigate through avoiding burnout.
At the end of the day, it's about taking care of yourself and making sure that you're at your best when you're coaching. Burnout isn't fun, but it definitely isn't something that coaches are immune to.
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