

The Secret Curse of Expert Archers - robg
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/01/sports/olympics/01archery.html?partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

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soundsop
Based on an article by Gladwell
(<http://www.gladwell.com/2000/2000_08_21_a_choking.htm>), this is closer to
choking rather than panicking.

Choking occurs when an ingrained/unconscious skill is interrupted by conscious
thought, like a professional athlete who chokes in the big moment. Panicking
occurs when conscious thought is interrupted by the unconscious, like a pilot
who can't respond to a correctable airplain failure.

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silentbicycle
Well, the article says that there may be underlying neurological causes. Of
course, an archer would probably lose their confidence and focus once they
know their arm muscles might lock up at any time and make them fire before
they can aim properly.

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hooande
A similar story in sports is that of Rick Ankiel. He was a top pitcher in 2000
but he experienced some kind of panic in a playoff game that prevented him
from throwing the ball over the plate. His story ended in success as he quit
pitching and went on to become the great hitter and position player that he is
now. It's really an interesting story: <http://awurl.com/xqsndl148973>

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jamongkad
Man, I remember when that guy first came up. He was a monster. Should have
seens his Triple A stats that year. It was to the tune of 40 walks and 200+
strikeouts. The guy had velocity and control...but went out like smoke
afterwards. Tsk tsk

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tom_rath
How do neurons become "worn from overuse"?!

Is such a thing possible or was that just an analogy?

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akd
The terminology sounds quackish but I think they might be on to something --
if you do the same exact thing every day for your whole life, maybe one day
you snap and can't do it anymore.

If this is true, I would expect it to affect baseball pitchers (not hitters as
much, since they are reacting to something), bowlers, archers, rifle
competitors, people who do the same job on an assembly line for 20 years, etc.
etc.

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Tamerlin
“Do not focus on results,” he said. “When you focus on results, it builds
anxiety. And anxiety is the kiss of death.”

That sounds a bit like the Kyudo (the Japanese art of archery) philosophy.
They say not to worry about where the arrow goes, only how you shoot it. To
hit your target, you focus on it until there's nothing else in your universe,
and then it's not possible to miss.

Watching these folks shoot is quite amazing. They ride past past a series of
targets around 8 inches in diameter, on horseback -- at full gallop -- and
pick them off one after another almost casually.

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silentbicycle
I wonder if there's any connection between this and some types of RSI-like
symptoms. I know it's a bit of a strange comparison, as with typing any focus
would be on content and not aim, but the paragraph about others (e.g.
musicians) getting "focal dystonia" from when neurons that _guide a particular
movement [...] become worn from overuse_ reminds me of people whose hands seem
to cramp up at the mere thought of typing.

Just a thought.

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mattmaroon
I didn't know there were elite archers. What year is this again?

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eru
Wow, those -x comments get pretty unreadable.

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dominik
I think that's the point. (Of course, you can always highlight them).

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eru
I had to. Yes, I know the reason.

