Emotions, heart rate and performance in archery - A case study

Background A case study of an elite female archer was conducted to gain ins ight into individual psychophysical reactions accompanying an athletic even t, and to test predictions of performance emotions effects upon performance . Good performance was expected when the actual pre-performance emotions re sembled the recalled optimal emotion pattern. Conversely, poor performance was expected when the actual pre-performance emotions paralleled the recall ed ineffective emotion pattern, Methods. Experimental design: the investigation comprised individual emotio n profiling, emotions and heart rate monitoring, final interview and perfor mance evaluation. Setting: the research was accomplished during the 1996 Eu ropean Archery Championships, one of the most important international arche ry competitions. Participant: an Is-year-old female athlete of the Italian archery national team. Interventions: because of the exploratory nature of the study, no intervent ion was implemented. Measures: emotion profiling was carried out using an idiographic approach b ased on recalled optimal and poor performances, according to the Individual Zones of Optimal Functioning (IZOF) model. Emotions, heart rate, and perfo rmance were monitored across the five days of practice and competition, Results. Individual pre-performance optimal emotion pattern, heart rate dec eleration during shooting, consistent shooting scores were revealed through out practice and competition. Conclusions. The good performance predicted o n the basis of pre-performance emotion assessments was met and was confirme d by the archer's interpretation.