The inverted-U relationship between stress and performance in elite shooting

This study presents a novel approach to understanding the impact of stress on shooting performance. We utilized the unique qualifying system of shooting competitions, dividing the 60 consecutive shooting results into six sets of 10 shots each. By comparing the differences between these sets, we could examine the influence of stress on performance. Our findings reveal an inverted U-shaped relationship between the athletes' different game stages and shooting performance, with the best performance observed in the middle stage of the game. The game's start (the second set compared to the third set) and end stages (the sixth set compared to the fifth set) are associated with similar performance declines. Based on the assumption that the three different psychological variables stress, arousal, and somatic anxiety will increase with the number of sets, we first provide a sporting example of the nonmonotonic relationship between the three psychological variables mentioned above and performance. To illustrate the inverted-U hypothesis, we reasonably speculate that an athlete achieves optimal performance at an intermediate level of arousal or stress or somatic anxiety. The low and high levels of arousal or stress or somatic anxiety lead to poor performance. These results provide compelling evidence for the inverted-U relationship between arousal, stress, somatic anxiety and performance, underscoring the significance of the inverted-U hypothesis in sports psychology.