![]() ![]() “My personality is of someone who doesn’t like to ask for help,” says Powers, “but I just had to grow up and realize I needed it.” Several dads were more than happy to pitch in during practice. But his work schedule just wasn’t going to let that happen. Having played baseball as a kid, Powers remembered his own father and uncle being there for every practice and game. “If you don’t know why you’re doing something,” he says, “it’s a lot harder to achieve what you want to do.” Don’t go it aloneĬhris Powers coaches his 9-year-old son Chad’s Little League baseball team in Naperville, Illinois - and has since tee ball. The clarity helped everyone refocus - and recommit. “I had to ask them why they were there, why they wanted to be on the team and why they wanted to go for a championship.” It wasn’t just his why, but the team’s, too. Just one season prior, he knew: It was about having fun - and seeing the players grow. “I had to come back to ‘ Why am I doing this? ’” he says. What got him back on track? Finding his why, as he puts it. Three-quarters of the way through the winter season, Duplex was so burnt out he ended a practice mid-way through. The gap between his expectations and reality made practice that much more frustrating - and less fulfilling. “Because they were buddy-buddy and knew the game, a lot of them came to practice wanting to fool around,” he explains. ![]() “My expectations were high and I thought it was going to be easier than it was,” he says, partly because he was coaching kids who he’d coached before, many of whom knew each other from school.īut, as he learned, “Every season has its challenges.”Īt first, Duplex assumed familiarity would work in his favor. Reset your expectations - every seasonĭuplex thinks one of the reasons he hit burnout over the winter season was his mindset going into it. Here are five tips that can help prevent coach burnout, from coaches who have been there. In fact, with day jobs and families, it’s easy to see how they’re even more susceptible. And volunteer parent-coaches are no exception. He’d spent four years with the Matt Leinart Flag Football League in Southern California - and he loved it.īut success, and loving the game, doesn’t prevent burnout, and Duplex decided to call the winter season his last.īurnout - defined by the American Psychological Association as “physical, emotional or mental exhaustion, accompanied by decreased motivation, lowered performance and negative attitudes towards oneself and others” - plagues professionals and parents alike. As coach of his then 9-year-old son Kasra’s flag football team, he led his players to consecutive championships in fall 2021 and winter 2022. ![]() Chris Duplex is probably the last guy you’d imagine succumbing to burnout. ![]()
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