Help needed from cricket lovers (and players)

[crickettragic]

Hi all,

I am a student currently studying at college, and in case you couldn’t tell by my username I am a bit cricket mad. I was wondering if anyone out there in this forum could help me with a cricket project I am doing as part of a course.

I am currently doing an Extended Project Qualification, in which I have to write an essay on a topic, and I need some first hand research so I thought there would be no place better to ask than a forum dedicated to cricket

My essay is on burnout/mental fatigue within cricketers, why it occurs and how it can be prevented. Through this I’m trying to cover a wide range of cases, (from a Trott to Trescothick ) and other cases from all forms of cricket. I have prepared some questions you could answer below if you want to help, or alternatively you could leave any other thoughts you have.

• What do you think the main cause for burnout is?
• What are the key symptoms of burnout?
• Have you ever suffered from a form of mental fatigue within the game, or know anyone who has?
• Can you think of any more lesser well known case studies I could use?
• Do you think burn out is completely curable (and if so, any ideas how)?
• Do you have any thoughts on the best ways to prevent burnout?
• Do you think burnout occurs in some form to every player, or just to a certain few?

Whether you are a cricket watcher or a player, if you could take the time to paste some thoughts I could use below I would really appreciate it. Please could you also leave a name so I could quote your thoughts in my essay.

Thanks very much, Anna

 

[Howe_zat]

Not a player myself, so hopefully one of those will chip in as well.

It looks like the main two reasons why international cricket seems to suffer from this are firstly that there is no offseason; and also that performance (and therefore criticism) is inexorably personal despite being part of a team that relies on you. In the world of sport, both these are unique to cricketers.

A better wordsmith than me, King Cricket, has a good article on this. Overtraining in cricket ? a plea for an off season

Edit: I'm Jake Howe, the article is by Alex Bowden

 

[BackFootPunch]

• What do you think the main cause for burnout is?

Lack of a real challenge or motivator within the game, or the emergence of a competing interest outside of it. In regards to the former, this could be stagnation at a particular level or achieving all the goals you had. Prolonged periods of bad performance (in your own mind) would also be up there.

• What are the key symptoms of burnout?

A change in attitude, sometimes major and sometimes minor. For some players, they'll be a completely different person at training and in games - that competitive fire may be completely gone. For others, it could be something hard for people to notice, for example less self confidence or belief in abilities. I doubt burnout manifests itself in the same ways for everyone, as everyone is driven to play the game differently.

• Have you ever suffered from a form of mental fatigue within the game, or know anyone who has?

Yes and yes. Personally, I hit the wall when I realised I wasn't going to make it any higher in the game without dedicating myself to it completely. Unfortunately, that was something I wasn't prepared (or able) to do due to other commitments e.g work, study, relationship.

• Do you think burn out is completely curable (and if so, any ideas how)?

I'm not sure if it's curable in the sense that you can go back to being exactly the same player you were beforehand. The effects of it will always be with you, I imagine. It's just that some people can make peace with their issues or at least ignore them. I've certainly found that a change of environment (a different team at a different level) has helped me to enjoy the game a whole lot more.

• Do you have any thoughts on the best ways to prevent burnout?

Not really, it's a personal thing that's inevitable for some people when they've invested so much of themselves into something and stop getting the same intrinsic rewards that they used to. I think it's always going to happen in some form or another, so it's better to acknowledge it and set up ways to deal with it, rather than trying to outright prevent it.

• Do you think burnout occurs in some form to every player, or just to a certain few?

Hard to know really. I think some players have a competitive edge that just can't be dulled so they're always up for it. For me, once I stopped desperately wanting to play for the sheer enjoyment of it I knew I was probably a bit burnt out.

 

[Hurricane]

I will be surprised if you get a better answer than that.

I will only add that although there are other sports where you are equally measured on your own performance and in some cases more so such as golf and tennis, in some ways cricket is worse as when you shoot an 80 in golf you have only let yourself down.

Other random comments I have is that the game is very long as a batsman you may have to bat for 4-6 hours and that can be exhausting.

Finally at the end of the day unless you are a real keener fielding is a drag. And people can simply stop looking forward to it. Hence the rise of social T20 teams.

 

[Red]

I think promising kids aged around 15-17 get over cricket when they're asked to play junior cricket on Sat morning and senior cricket on Sat arvo as well as school cricket one night and training a couple of other nights.

I also think that in longer forms of the game if a player is a batsman only, failure to make scores for a few games means a lot of sitting around or just fielding. This can be pretty dull and lead to feeling you're not contributing...

 

[Dan]

Ed Cowan's book isn't a bad read on the topic IMO. He talks about his feelings when he fails etc, so might give you some insight.

 

[Blocky]

• What do you think the main cause for burnout is?

For club/amateur players, it's the time intensive nature of competitive cricket and the fact that you're generally not well supported, cricket has some of the worst administrators around in life and a lot of clubs are very dysfunctional which ruins the enjoyment factor which in turn means the game becomes more tedious

For professional players, a lot of it comes down to form/confidence issues and the expectations you place on yourself or are placed on you by those around you. A lot of burn out for professional players tends to happen at the non representitive level, where your club team expects that you'll carry them single handedly every week, you're sledged mercillessly by the opposition if you fail because you're a known/paid player. It's also the cricketing treadmill in the professional sector, you have to live and breathe cricket, you devote more time practicing than you generally do playing and a lot of the time you're playing through injuries, aches and strains, especially if you're a bowler.



• What are the key symptoms of burnout?

For clubs, the enjoyment factor is gone, you find yourself dreading the idea of standing in the field.. you're paying little to no attention to the game and just going through the motions. You generally either don't show up at trainings, or just throw down some half hearted deliveries and spend your net session slogging rather than practicing with intent.

For professional, everything becomes hard, you try harder to get yourself out of the mental rut which forces you more and more into it, you feel your luck goes away from you too which starts to wear on you. You start to resent your team mates and coach, you start obsessing over the smallest little flaws in your technique and trying to become perfect..


• Have you ever suffered from a form of mental fatigue within the game, or know anyone who has?

I never had any real mental fatigue, except for situations where I was dealing with physical problems but felt obligated to perform either for my club or district sides... in earlier years I'd just play through and force myself to play which did massive damage. I also found it highly frustrating playing under certain captain and coach regimes but then I was always the type of player that played better when I was angry/pissed off about things.

I witnessed a few players burn out mentally. Nick Horsley comes to mind as a guy I played a lot of cricket with and against and saw him go through a massive loss of confidence and love of the game. A lot of it for him came down to the fact that he was being told by a lot of people that he should be in the NZ side, then he wouldn't get selected or even given feedback by the selectors which really wore him down because he spent all of his time thinking "Why won't they pick me?" and also taking too many suggestions around "You need to become more aggressive.. "

A lot of guys I played with the English club and county scene burnt out massively but would never let you know about it, they took the "I'm tough, I'll get through" mentality and generally they were able to stay on the treadmill, however I saw a hell of a lot of personal life drama due to it, i.e divorces etcetera.

• Can you think of any more lesser well known case studies I could use?

No.

• Do you think burn out is completely curable (and if so, any ideas how)?

My question is what do you consider burn out? If you're pointing towards say a Trescothick or Trott style anxiety/depression illness then I wouldn't consider that burn out. If you're talking about the situations I talked about where players get a little too beaten up during the season then absolutely, it's all about having coaching staff who know their players and focus on keeping them healthy and happy both on the pitch and off the pitch.

• Do you have any thoughts on the best ways to prevent burnout?

Don't play in England.

• Do you think burnout occurs in some form to every player, or just to a certain few?

Everyone will get tedious/worn out at some point in any repeated activity, be it sport or work. It's all about knowing when to get away from it and also give yourself time for rest and recovery.

 

[uvelocity]

the main cause of burnout on cw is reading posts by jono