An Exploratory Pilot Study on Choking Episodes in Archery

Abstract

The aim of our study is to test the fit of an explanatory model of the frequency of the phenomenon of choking under pressure in archers, focusing on both the individual components (anxiety, coping styles, and decentralization) and environmental components (perception of coach assistance). 115 competitive athletes including 72 males (62.6%) and 43 females (37.4%) participated in the study, with average age of 39 years (±15.47). Participants reported personal data and completed measures of self-consciousness, anxiety, coping styles, and decentering. The ruminative component of concern was found to be the factor directly influencing the frequency of choking episodes in performance. Two significant mediations of personal coping style were also identified on the effects of anxiety on brooding thinking and on the athlete's ability to decentralize. The latter personal self-regulative component has been shown to be able to strongly limit the frequency of choking under pressure. Finally, among the environmental components, a further facilitating influence for the athlete resulted in the perception of being supported by the coach. The results therefore suggest that the athlete in choking should not face alone the hard upcoming period, but should preferably be supported with an articulated program focused on the cognitive remodeling of disturbing thoughts, on the strengthening of the capacity of decentralization, on the enhancement of the relationship of support and trust with the coach.

Assessing Decentering Capacity in Athletes: A Moderated Mediation Model

“…There are many different strategies for controlling emotions, but cognitive reappraisal is a significant and useful one [ 37 , 47 , 48 ]. According to studies, suppression of expression is not positively correlated with motor performance, whereas positive cognitive reappraisal is [ 14 ]; this boosts athletes’ feelings of fulfillment and enhances their performance on experimental tasks [ 15 ]. In addition, the cognitive reappraisal of emotions is often associated with positive aspects of the athlete’s well-being [ 49 , 50 ].…”

“…People may be able to relate to events more objectively, which could help them avoid becoming overly mentally and emotionally involved [ 12 ], and thus help them recognize unpleasant emotions that need to be controlled more quickly [ 13 ]. Other research has shown that positive cognitive reappraisal increases the feelings of positive emotions in archery athletes and enhances performance in experimental tasks [ 14 , 15 ], while expression suppression does not increase motor performance in table tennis [ 16 ]. Arousal reappraisal also helps golfers avoid “choking”, and to some extent, it ensures performance in putting tasks, similarly to cognitive reappraisal [ 17 ].…”

Effect of rapid weight loss on mood states and burnout of Brazilian jiu-jitsu athletes during a competitive process

“…Considering burnout, in general, the athletes in the present study had low scores, similar to other individual sports, such as tennis ( Casagrande et al, 2014 , 2017 ), and other contact sports, such as rugby ( Cresswell and Eklund, 2005 ; Hodge et al, 2008 ). In sport psychology, it has been argued that burnout is more common in individual sports than in team sports, due to the higher levels of strength and time demands required ( Smith, 1986 ; Coakley, 1992 ; Diotaiuti et al, 2021a ). However, in the study of Gustafsson et al (2007) , higher burnout was found in male team sports athletes on the physical and emotional exhaustion and sports devaluation subscales, although the moderate to low effect size limits the scope of inferences.…”

Integrated use of biofeedback and neurofeedback techniques in treating pathological conditions and improving performance: a narrative review

“…Athletes, having to manage the times and methods of execution of the technical/athletic gesture, look for programs and technologies that accurately and thoroughly improve their performance ( Lange-Smith et al, 2023 ). An example is given by sports such as archery or shooting where the management of arousal turns out to be a fundamental aspect for dealing with physiological and behavioral conditioning coming from internal and external responses which influence performance ( Marzbani et al, 2016 ; Mikicin et al, 2018 ; Diotaiuti et al, 2021c ).…”