A Psychobiological Study of Archery Performance

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Abstract
This study examined the physical, psychological and perceptual/visual variables related to elite archers' shooting performance. Complete data on 62 variables were obtained on male (n = 44) and female (n = 35) archers, who were tested during the years 1982-1984. In order to reduce the number of variables, only those that correlated significantly with performance (r > .25, p < .005) were retained. This yielded seven variables. These variables were then combined into an overall hierarchical regression model. The overall model was significant (p <.001, adjusted R2 = .53). This analysis indicated that relative leg strength, reaction time, depth perception, endomorphy, imagery usage, confidence, and focus on past mistakes were variables associated with archery performance. Finally, the total sample was classified into two groups on the basis of the shooting scores. Discriminant function analysis indicated that 81% of the archers were classified correctly on the basis of these significant predictors.