This study examined associations among athlete perceptions of the coach-athlete relationship and psychological outcomes of burnout and engagement across a competitive season. We hypothesized that higher levels of the three markers of the coach-athlete relationship (closeness, commitment, and complementarity) would be negatively associated with burnout and positively associated with engagement across a sport season. American female collegiate rowers (N = 37; Mage = 19.3 years, SD = 1.18) completed online self-report assessments of study variables at four seasonal survey waves. Multilevel linear modeling analyses revealed closeness to be a significant predictor of seasonal global burnout and engagement across the season assessment period. Findings inform future research and intervention to promote engagement and deter burnout via improving coach-athlete closeness.
This project was completed while McGee was a student a the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. DeFreese is with the Dept. of Exercise and Sport Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC.