Last week, as part of Mental Health Awareness Week, London Sport hosted a session focused on helping coaches better understand burnout, stress, and the importance of protecting their own wellbeing.
The session, Looking After Your Mental Health and Preventing Burnout for Coaches, brought together coaches and sports leaders from across London to explore some of the pressures that can come with working in sport and physical activity.
Led by Helena Keenan, one of the Sport Welfare Managers at London Sport, the session explored what burnout is, how it can develop, and the warning signs coaches may experience when long-term stress is left unmanaged. These included emotional, mental and physical signs such as exhaustion, feeling overwhelmed, brain fog, irritability, anxiety, insomnia, reduced focus, and feeling unable to switch off.
A strong theme throughout the discussion was the number of different roles coaches have to manage. Attendees reflected on balancing coaching with safeguarding demands and responsibilities, administration, communication, ensuring the welfare of athletes, supporting parents and participants, and wider responsibilities within their clubs or organisations. For many, the challenge is not simply the coaching itself, but the volume and intensity of demands around it.
The session also looked at how both internal and external factors can contribute to burnout. This included perfectionism, fear of making mistakes, emotional load, isolation, lack of support, poor boundaries and club environments where people do not feel able to speak openly about pressure they are facing or mental health.
One of the key messages was that burnout should not be seen as a personal weakness. Often, it is connected to the environment around coaches. As discussed during the session:
“When a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower.”
To manage the demands from their environment we focused on what we can control, by improving our coping abilities.
Helena also introduced practical tools coaches could apply in their own lives and settings, including the “5 Ways to Wellbeing” model: connect, be active, take notice, keep learning and give. Attendees discussed the importance of talking to others, using support networks, taking time for themselves, doing something outside of coaching, and setting healthier professional boundaries.
The session also introduced simple behaviour-change approaches. Rather than waiting to feel motivated, coaches were encouraged to make a manageable plan and take small steps that can build momentum over time.
By the end of the session, attendees shared practical takeaways such as making time for themselves each day, being more present, not carrying everything alone, and recognising that boundaries are essential for coaches.
The event formed part of London Sport’s wider welfare support offer, helping clubs, coaches and community organisations create safer, healthier, and more supportive environments for everyone involved in sport and physical activity.
