The Shooter Who Collapses in the Last Series
A 17-year-old 10 m air rifle shooter averages 615 in practice but has scored 588, 591 and 585 in his last three competitions, each time collapsing in the final series. Before a match his heart rate reaches about 130 beats per minute, his hands sweat, and he thinks, I will ruin the last series and everyone will see it. His coach responds by saying, just relax and think positive, there is nothing to be nervous about. The shooter is a perfectionist, checks his equipment repeatedly, and shoots better when he is slightly keyed up rather than calm. Trials are in ten days, and the coach wants to add a relaxation script before every practice and to tell him to stop thinking about the outcome.
1. Explain his pattern using arousal and anxiety theory, including why the coach's advice is likely to fail.
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Cognitive anxiety is dominating his somatic arousal. Heart rate near 130 and sweating are somatic signs; the thought about ruining the last series is worry, the cognitive component, which disrupts attention and cue processing. The collapse in the final series suggests he shifts from task-relevant cues to threat monitoring exactly when the score begins to matter.
The coach's advice fails twice. First, telling a perfectionist to relax assumes low arousal is best, but the inverted-U and the individual zones of optimal functioning say the optimum is personal; he shoots better slightly keyed up, so a relaxation script could push him below his zone. Second, telling him to stop thinking about the outcome is a suppression instruction, and suppressed thoughts tend to return under pressure. He needs a process cue and a routine, not a command to feel differently.
2. Design the ten-day psychological preparation and justify each element, noting what you would not add.
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- Build a fixed pre-shot routine with timing for breathing, equipment check and a single process cue such as slow squeeze, follow through. The final series then runs on habit rather than evaluation.
- Replace outcome thoughts with the technical cue, and rehearse a planned response to a bad shot.
- Use imagery of the final series that includes a poor shot followed by recovery; coping imagery is more useful here than perfect imagery.
- Simulate pressure: scored series in front of an audience with a consequence attached, so the competition setting becomes familiar.
- Use brief slow breathing only if he feels over-aroused before a series, not a full relaxation programme.
- Redefine success for the trials as executing the routine, which manages the perfectionism.
What I would not add: a new technique change, or lengthy relaxation training that lowers him out of his optimal zone.
3. How would you judge whether the intervention worked before and at the trials?
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Use more than the trial score, since one match is a noisy sample.
- Self-report: a state anxiety inventory and a confidence rating taken 30 minutes before practice matches and before the trials.
- Behavioural: heart rate at the start of the final series, consistency of the routine, and time between shots.
- Performance: scored series in the pressure simulation and in competition, with the final-series score reported separately, because that is the target behaviour.
The decision rule: if routine use and final-series scores improve while trait anxiety stays high, the intervention is working. If practice stays near 615 but competition still drops, the pressure simulation is too weak. One good trial does not prove the intervention; two or three competitions with the routine in place do.