Holistic Athlete Weekly Newsletter

Self Care and Burnout

As you get deep into seasons and school semesters, it’s natural to experience some degree of burnout. Low energy, lack of motivation, frustration, and poor tolerance for stress are key warning signs that you may need to engage in self-care to improve your mental status.

This month, the University of Massachusetts coaches will attend a Burnout Prevention workshop to identify self-care strategies based on what they may be struggling with. The different types of self-care that will be discussed are: Physical, Psychological, Social, Spiritual, and Professional.

Below is the survey coaches will take to identify aspects of self-care they may be lacking, and suggestions for which habits to implement into their routines.

Instilling Values Criteria

If you expect your athletes to do anything ranging from behaviors to adherence to values, you as a coach must be able to answer 3 things:

1) Define the value/behavior

2) What does it look like when executed properly?

3) How are we going to practice and get better at it?

For the 3 criteria, let’s use respect as an example. I think most programs would agree that having a culture of respect would be important, but how do we define what respect is? Your players grew up in different homes and were raised by different parents, which may lead everyone in the program to have a different viewpoint and expectation of what respect is. Because of that, players may not be aware if they are being disrespectful in your eyes. For example, not making eye contact when you’re speaking to them, not immediately following instructions, or interrupting you when you talk could be considered disrespectful to some, but there may be cultural considerations or learned behaviors from parents or previous coaches that are contributing to the response.

Clearly and concisely defining what your expectation is of them, making sure they can see and feel when it’s being done correctly, and then having a means to practice and improve upon the desired value/behavior is the best way to instill an important concept to your team.

Holistic Athlete Services

If you haven’t done so already, sign up for the 11 module Coaches Education Course! Contact me for a discount code

Also if you haven’t already, please sign up for a Zoom call for you and your staff to discuss the specific needs of your team, to asses what services may benefit you, to review content from the course, and to discuss any challenges with athlete’s you’re experiencing.