Pre–Post Motor–Cognitive and Shooting Performance Patterns in Security-Force Applicants During a Fixed-Order Acute-Load Protocol: A Descriptive Pilot Study

Background: Operational performance in security-force settings depends on maintaining accurate motor–cognitive and shooting performance under acute physical strain. This descriptive pilot study examined pre–post performance patterns during a fixed-order acute-load protocol and explored whether trial-level and spatial analyses identified changes beyond aggregate scores. Methods: Nineteen applicants (10 men, 9 women; 21.6 ± 1.0 years) completed two testing sequences separated by one week. All participants completed Sequence 1 first and Sequence 2 second; therefore, sequence-related observations were interpreted descriptively rather than causally. In both sequences, participants performed Hawk Eye testing, IPSC-based shooting, and the Jaciak Motor Coordination Test, with the order of Hawk Eye and shooting reversed between sequences. Primary outcomes were first-shot hit rate and Hawk Eye error count. Secondary and exploratory outcomes included shooting miss rate and time, Hawk Eye stimulus time, minimum and maximum response times, trial-level timing, spatial distributions, and cross-task coupling. Results: Heart rate increased markedly after the Jaciak test in both sequences, with end-of-test values corresponding to approximately 86–88% of age-predicted HRmax. Model-based analysis indicated lower post-load odds of a first-shot hit compared with pre-load performance. In contrast, no detectable pre–post change was observed for Hawk Eye error probability. Descriptively, first-shot hit rate decreased in Sequence 1 (62.1 ± 19.9% vs. 42.1 ± 28.2%; p = 0.029), while the decrease in Sequence 2 was smaller and not statistically significant (61.1 ± 24.5% vs. 52.6 ± 28.4%; p = 0.267). Hawk Eye error count showed no statistically detectable pre–post change in either sequence, although maximum response time decreased in Sequence 1 (p = 0.008). Trial-level and spatial analyses indicated additional temporal and location-specific patterns, but exploratory cross-task spatial associations were inconsistent. Conclusions: In this fixed-order descriptive pilot study, post-load testing was associated with lower first-shot shooting performance in this sample, whereas no statistically detectable deterioration was observed for Hawk Eye error probability. However, because the design lacked a no-load control condition and all participants completed the same sequence order, the observed pre-to-post differences cannot be attributed specifically to acute physical load. They should be interpreted as descriptive performance patterns within the implemented protocol.