The Association Between the Coach-Athlete Relationship and Burnout Among High School Coaches

Burnout is a term that continues to raise considerable concern among high school coaches and administrators (Raedeke, 1997) and has shown to have negative effects on coaches and athletes alike (Price & Weiss, 2000; Vealey, Armstrong, & Comar, 1998). While burnout has shown to have significant adverse effects, few studies have examined how the coach-athlete relationship may affect a coach s level of perceived burnout. This study sought to understand if the coach-athlete relationship predicted coach burnout. High school coaches (69 males, 62 females) completed the Coach-Athlete Relationship Questionnaire (CART-Q; Jowett & Ntoumanis, 2004), the Coaching Burnout Questionnaire, a modified version of the Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (ABO; Raedeke & Smith. 2001), as well as demographic and background assessments. Results of a multivariate multiple regression indicated that coaches who perceived themselves as committed and had complementary goals with their athletes, showed significantly lower levels o f burnout on all three dimensions. Results indicate that coaches should strive to ensure that they have goals that align with their athletes ’goals and develop a sustained and committed relationship with their players.