The Psychology of an Elite Archer – A
Developmental Perspective
Katherine Bond
8th November 2011
With thanks to:
Rebecca Symes
Jo Batey
Dr Ruth Lowry
Introduction
A tiny % of athletes make it to the very
highest level, and enjoy sustained success
through their career.
Few truly fulfil their potential.
Often success at junior level does not
translate to success at senior level
Archery is a sport where sustained
success is possible (but still quite rare)
Session summary
The session will:
Explore the psychological correlates of
success in archery
Highlight some key discriminates of
success at the very elite level
Take a developmental perspective in
discussing these
Discuss some implications for coaches
and programme managers
Audience participation welcome!
WAKE AND SHAKE 1!
2011 World Archery Coaching Seminar
What does it take (personality,
attributes, attitude) to be a successful
archer at the highest level?
What does it take to sustain success
over a career?
2011 World Archery Coaching Seminar
Development of a profile of the psychological
qualities and skills associated with success at
World Class level.
We drew from:
Research on successful Olympians
and Paralympians
Previous profiling data
Archer feedback
Coach and other ‘expert’ opinion
The 5 Foundations of Success...
1) Talent is not enough – work hard and
work smart
2) Desire to improve
3) Attitude
4) Competition Toughness and Resilience
5) Professional and Balanced
1) Talent is not enough
Detailed and systematic planner
Engages in purposeful, quality training
Prepares thoroughly for competition
Reviews progress and performance
2) Desire to improve
Determination, drive and commitment to
achieve
Hunger to improve 100% of the time
3) Attitude
Take responsibility
Embrace change
Continual evolvement
Honest appraisal of own strengths
and weaknesses
Use all resources available to them
4) Competition Toughness &
Resilience
Excellent emotional control and composure
in competition
Retains a task focus
Performs under competition pressure
Deals effectively with the challenge of
being a major competition
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXdFv2lhbNw&feature=relmfu
5) Professional and Balanced
Embraces challenge and discomfort
Professional team member
Retains perspective and life balance
Has interests and focus outside
archery
Balance, perspective, identity
Keeping a balance, being a rounded person
A critical factor for long term success???
Self-identity – what is it?
WAKE AND SHAKE 2!
Describe yourself in no more than 3
sentences
What are the really important things you
identify with?
I am an
archer
I am a
student
The
Self
I am a
sister
I am an
artist
Self-Esteem
Expectations
SelfIdentities
SelfEsteem
The value or worth we give to our
identity
Meaning
Circular Relationship
Identity/
esteem
Behaviour
Athletic Identity
I am an Archer
I am a sister
SelfIdentity
Strong
“Athletic
Identity”
I am an artist
Or
Overidentification
with one
aspect of self
I am a student
Advantages & risks of a strong AI
Advantages
 Commitment in training and
focus on sport goals (Horton &
Mack, 2000)
 Motivation and discipline
necessary for intense training
and success in high level sport
(Callero, 1985; Danish,1983)
 When things going well –
high self-esteem and higher
performance peaks (e.g. Marsh,
Perry, Horsely & Roche, 1995)
Risks
 Over commitment to the
athlete role leading to overtraining, reluctance to
rest/recover, willingness to do
anything to succeed
 Restricted development of a
multidimensional identity –
‘identity foreclosure’
 High levels of competitive
anxiety
 Unstable self-esteem and
performance – rapid
decrements in both
 Difficulty adapting to injury and
retirement
Exclusive AI - at risk from
vicious cycle of low selfesteem when things not
going well in sport
Self-blame
Failure
Low SelfEsteem
Negative
Expectations
Low Effort;
High
Anxiety
Research Case Study 1
10 elite junior archers, ave
age 17.
Research explored:
The nature of their social
networks – breadth of
relationships
Function of their
relationships
Developmental activities
Lowry, R. & Bond, K. (2010) Mapping the social world of high performing youth
athletes: Ego network analysis of junior British archers. Association for Applied
Sport Psychology. 27th-30th October, Providence, Rhode Island.
F 18
Mum
Family
F 22
Archery
Neighbourhood
M 19
M 18
Dad
M 18
M 17
F 18
M
Coach
M
Coach
M
Coach
F
Coach
Jim, University Student – Alters = 12; Alter Ties = 38; Density = 3.17
Family
Dad
F 24
School
Archery
F 16
F 21
F 16
F 18
F 16
F 16
Mum
F 16
F 16
M
36
F
Coach
Claire, School Student – Alters = 12; Alter Ties = 22; Density = 1.83
Family
Uncle
GMh
Universit
y
Archery
Mum
Neighbourhood
M 17
M 13
M 17
M 19
Dad
M 17
M
F
Coach
M
Coach
Coach
John, University Student – Alters = 11; Alter Ties = 16; Density = 1.45
Key findings
1) Social networks of archers appear to be smaller than
those of non-athletes.
2)Social networks of archers were characterised by
relationships with adults more than those of nonathletes
i) Parents were prominent in the archers’ social network –
more so than that which would be expected with nonathletes - and were generally the most important source
of practical and emotional support
ii) National coaches also emerged as dominant figures in
the archers’ networks.
Key findings
3) Social networks were characterised by a
relative lack of relationships with same-aged
peers. Specifically:
i) Other archers and siblings were not a prominent
feature of – or were absent from – social
networks.
ii) Archers had fewer same-aged, same-sexed
friends from their school, college or
neighbourhood than non-athletes.
iii) Relationships with friends assumed less social
importance than family (notably parents) and
coaches.
WAKE AND SHAKE 3!!
So...what’s the problem???
Two critical developmental
experiences
1) Movement from relying on adult support to peer
support in teenage years
2) Identity development through ‘role
experimentation’
May not happen with elite junior archers -leading to:
 Development of Strong Athletic Identity
 Esteem linked to performance
 May not learn to have equitable relationships
 Difficulty on transition from sport
WAKE AND SHAKE 4!!
You’re a coach/programme
manager/support staff member...
What 3 things would you do to your
programme to prevent this from
happening?
The role of the
coach/manager/practitioner
Given the theory and research, we need to
enable athletes to:
• Understand the different identities they
hold
• Develop a broad self-concept
• Develop a strong global self-esteem
• Devise career plans
Our responsibility
Education
Awareness
Support
Example 1 - Create a
confidence mind-map
across all identities
I was
selected for
GB junior
squad
I have a large
group of
varied friends
ME
PB’s
I have won
an award for
my cooking
skills
“Comment
from
someone
really
important to
me”
Example 2 – identity support
networks
Best
friend
from
school
Brother
Coach
My
Support
Network
Dad
Mum
Tutor
Sporting
friends
Outside of
sport friends
Uncle
Other ideas
• Include career planning in programme - vital
that athletes understand the need to have
career plans in place both in a sporting and
non-sporting context
• Include other activities in junior programmes
• Restrict training time – and make on-going
education and involvement in external
activities a requirement!
May be battling against view that narrow focus
on sport is necessary for competitive success
Summary
Multi-faceted, balanced identity may be critical to long term
sustained success
We need to take a developmental perspective to ensuring
our athlete attain this –
i) Give particular attention to teenage years – critical
period of identity formation
ii) Be careful of the messages that you give out and
reinforce
iii) Design programmes that are developmental and
educational
iv) Balance the quantity of training with other activities
v) De-emphasise a ‘winning at all costs’ mentality through
the lifespan
Thank you…
Ready to answer your questions!