The past three decades have seen an explosion of interest into the nature, causes and consequences of stress in both work and non-work settings. Given that leisure is of growing importance in most people's lives and that the impact of stress influences the way in which leisure is used, then the role that leisure plays as a means of coping with stress represents an important research agenda. In order to explore leisure's role in coping with work stress this research explored, using a sample of secondary school principals and deputy principals, three issues: (1) why an involvement in leisure was important, (2) what reasons were given as to why leisure was important to cope with stress, and (3) what coping strategies were actually used to cope with stress in relation to whether or not leisure had always been regarded as an important part of life. Each of these issues was explored using a technique called sequential tree analysis. This technique identifies patterns of data and arranges them in hierarchical order to provide a visual display that captures the richness of relationships not always present when more traditional methods are used. The different patterns that emerged point to the complex role that leisure plays. The results also point to the need to better understand combinations and patterns before it is possible to determine the exact nature of the presumed emotion-focused role that leisure may play in coping with work stress. These findings have implications for stress management interventions and the role of leisure in them and the need to distinguish between the meanings people give to the importance of leisure as distinct from the actual use of leisure as a coping strategy.