Archers with target panic trace its onset to focusing on the outcome and on expectations

The summary today

The evidence comes from seven British archers with target panic, from club to national level and with 3 to 18 years of shooting, interviewed for 33 to 65 minutes each. All seven trace the onset to the moment they began thinking about the score of each arrow (one describes it as the thought of needing an X or a personal best), driven by their own expectations or those of others, and they describe how this gave rise to the need to take full control of the shot. In the same interviews, however, focusing on the outcome is not the only origin the archers point to: one archer links the onset to a bow failure that injured her, another to sudden noises on the range and to family experiences that have nothing to do with shooting. A second qualitative study, an ethnography in an English university club, neither confirms nor contradicts it: it describes a problem that arrives suddenly, with no gradual phase, and archers who identify concrete triggers, a piece of equipment, a step in the shot sequence, a feature of the environment. These are accounts given after the event, which say how archers explain their own target panic, not what caused it.

Also phrased as: "causes of target panic"; "where target panic comes from"; "target panic and score obsession"; "target panic and expectations"; "target panic and outcome pressure"

Evidence

• 2019
  For Archers Published later

  Interpretative phenomenological analysis of 7 adult British archers with current or past target panic (3 men and 4 women; 2 at club, 3 at county and 2 at national level; 3 to 18 years of shooting), with semi-structured interviews lasting 33 to 65 minutes. All seven attribute the onset of the problem to focusing on the result of each arrow, which the study's main theme links to two sub-themes: the expectation to perform, their own or others', and the need to take full control of the shot, which crowds out the automatic reflexes.

  Archers’ experiences of target panic: an interpretative phenomenological analysis · Erin E. Prior, Janine K. Coates

• 2019
  Context Archers Published later

  In the same interviews focusing on the outcome is not the only origin given: one archer links the onset to a bow failure that injured her face, another to a sudden noise on the range and to family experiences unrelated to shooting, the fear of disappointing others. The authors also note that the more experienced archers had target panic mainly in the final stages of a competition, the less experienced also in training. These are qualitative readings, with no counts.

  Archers’ experiences of target panic: an interpretative phenomenological analysis · Erin E. Prior, Janine K. Coates

• 2023
  Context Archers Published later

  A year-long ethnography in a university club in south-west England, with 8 interviews and the author's own experience: target panic arrives suddenly, with no gradual onset, and those who live with it identify a specific trigger, a piece of equipment, a step in the shot sequence or a feature of the environment, which tends to set off episodes and which they try to remove by changing how they shoot; in one case the trigger is conscious control of the shot. Outcome and expectations are not discussed as an origin.

  Target panic: Disrupted ecologies of skill in archery · Eliott Rooke

Status history

1. 1984 Not studied No one in the registry's bibliography had yet asked archers with target panic what, in their view, had set it off.
2. 2019 Reported Seven British archers with target panic, at club, county and national level, describe their experience in interviews lasting 33 to 65 minutes. All seven trace the onset to the moment they began concentrating on the result of the arrow, driven by their own or others' expectations and by the need to keep the shot under control; some also point to other origins, such as a bow failure that causes injury or a sudden noise. It is how archers explain the origin of their problem, gathered in a qualitative study of seven people: reported.
3. 2023 Reported A year-long ethnography in an English university club, with eight interviews and the author's own experience, describes target panic that arrives suddenly, with no gradual phase, and archers who identify concrete triggers, a piece of equipment, a step in the shot sequence, a feature of the environment, and try to remove them. It does not ask what started the problem and does not discuss outcome or expectations: it adds nothing for or against, and the status stays at reported.

Related

Related articles

• Why target panic happens (and why calling it mental is not enough)My hypothesis on target panic: under pressure the release de-automatizes, dropping back to conscious control too slow to run it. With what the studies say.
• Target panic in archery: what it is and how to manage itTarget panic in archery: what it is, its three forms, how common it is and which remedies help, with the weight each one carries in the studies.
• The arrow goes by itself: yips and premature release in archeryEarly release as the studies see it: how archers describe it, how common it is in kyudo, how many get over it and why it differs from the release block.

Research lines

• 10 studiesTarget panic, yips and release disorders

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