Neurofeedback for Peak Archery Performance : Case Studies Eleanor Fong
About me NUS graduate: Bachelor of Social Science Neurofeedback therapist at Spectrum Learning Hypnotherapist Air rifle shooter Archer
Archery Sport Involves multiple steps: raise bow, pre-draw, draw, anchor, aim, release, follow through Timing and coordination is crucial for good shot execution Limited amount of time for shooting Being calm and focused is key
Archery Sport: Main Challenges External distractions: wind condition, noises, visual distractions etc Internal distractions: Inner mind chatters, emotions etc Overcoming the challenges will improve performance
Hypothesis Sensory Processing External distractions (touch, temperature (visual and auditory) etc) Internal distractions Multisensory (Thoughts) integration Neurofeedback training (increase alpha at parietal) improve archery performance
Protocol Protocol: Pz alpha (music feedback) Shaping across sessions Main instruction given: Experiment around different methods to make the music play more smoothly
Procedure Three seasoned archers chosen One simulated competition before nfb trainings and on after nfb trainings Trained them to carry out nfb training themselves 24 sessions within 1.5 months Close cooperation between archers and me
Case study: Archer A Integrate nfb learnings with Tried to focus archery with on breathing success: Focus to calm down. on breathing A lot of passing and looking at thoughts. one spot to Music choppy calm thoughts down S1 S7 S4/S5 S10 S24 Realized focusing Integrate nfb on breathing learnings with archery competition gathers attention from thoughts and and achieved great results: calms her down during nfb and Bronze in Individual archery trainings Knock-out Across sesions: Lesser thoughts, able to control attention to breathing and music better
Case study: Archer A Able to calm down to a point she can hear her heartbeat during nfb, archery trainings and NUS competition Came to the realization that focused attention calms thoughts down and allow muscle memory to take over more easily Can choose to tune out background noise Benefited from nfb trainings Pre-nfb comp: 490/600, Post nfb comp: 500/600 Were able to control attention to keep calm
Case study: Archer B Busy experimenting (eg: talking to herself, imagine shooting, thinking how to make music play etc) what Felt S10 was the breakthrough: Started to let go of makes the music play more thoughts and not experimenting so much and the alpha smoothly and occasional starts to increase peeping at the eeg S1 S9 S15 S10 S24 Integrated NFB NUS competition learnings into last in ranking archery trainings: Doubted herself “Pace was good, shots were powerful” Across sesions: generally lesser thoughts, increased ability to control attention to look at a spot to calm down
Case study: Archer B Very conscious during nfb trainings Sets high expectations on herself Nfb training trends are very good Have difficulty integrating nfb learnings into archery competitions Coaching helped her to relax and enter calm state during archery but unable to sustain Benefited from nfb trainings: understood what “letting go” means Pz alpha-theta may help her better Pre-nfb comp: 433/600, Post nfb comp: 364/600 Had expectation to perform which interfere with the shots
Case study: Archer C Doing Stopped doing visualisation and just let go of all thoughts and then music visualisation of plays more smoothly. shooting Realized that focused attention (attention on the music) helps to make during nfb music plays more smoothly. trainings Tried to sustain that state throughout session. S1 S3 S15 S24 S4 S20 S8 Able to tune out Shot cycle increased Day after S20: Integrated music at the from 15s to 19s nfb learnings (think of background and past 15s of nfb music playing smoothly focus completely on helped to increase before comp, focused shooting during her focus while she attention on the target archery training on aims face) into comp and same day before S8 attained significant results: got 8 out of 64 in Individual knockout, broke 4 personal best, achieved 2 goals she set for herself since Oct 2015 Across sessions: Increased ability to focus attention to music in nfb and focus on shot during archery
Case study: Archer C Has been able to focus prior to nfb and nfb helped to improve focus tremendously “Alpha state” helps her deal very extremely cold temperature Realized that the key to a good shot is focused attention as this allows her to let the muscle memory take over easily Benefitted greatly from nfb trainings Wanted to continue with nfb trainings after the project Pre-nfb comp: 663/720, Post nfb comp: 664/720 Was on medication that affects ability to focus
Summary Archers come to self-realization that focused attention on shooting is the way to improve their shots By focusing attention and ignoring distractions (external and internal) by increasing alpha at parietal Increased ability to access muscle memory and execute good shots Neurofeedback trainings improve archery performance
Thank You!
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