Changes in athlete burnout and motivation over a 12-week league tournament

Introduction: To date, empirical reports of an association between motivation and athlete burnout have been exclusively based on cross-sectional research. Conclusions regarding the nature of the relationship between motivation and burnout are limited because they do not provide longitudinal information. Purpose: To examine the relationship between burnout and motivation across a 12-wk league tournament (pretournament, midtournament, and end of tournament). Method: Data were collected on using the Athlete Burnout Questionnaire and Sport Motivation Scale from 102 adult professional male rugby players at three different times during a 12-wk league tournament. Results: Linear mixed modeling was used to explore hypothesized relationships between individual key characteristics of burnout and factors/covariates across time. Within the models, amotivation, the least self-determined type of motivation, had a large positive association with key characteristics of burnout. Self-determined forms of motivation (i.e., intrinsic motivation) exhibited significant negative associations with burnout. Extrinsic motivation, proposed to exist between intrinsic and amotivation on the self-determination continuum, was negatively associated with sport devaluation and reduced accomplishment as well as positively associated with physical and emotional exhaustion. Other factors related to burnout within the analysis included time (pretournament, in tournament, and end of tournament), team membership, number of injuries, years of national domestic league experience, and win/loss history. Conclusions: Overall, the results reflect the burnout experience may vary over time and support the potential utility of a self-determination theory explanation of burnout.