Best personality for archery?

[Deadeye Doc]

... Furface, of course there are all sorts of psychotherapeutic methods to both deal with "bereavement" which, as you say, is a useful analogy in this discussion. It is interesting that there is NO one "best buy" in this area - and for those who want to look into this I suggest reading "The Heroic Client"
(Barry L. Duncan, Scott D. Miller, and Jacqueline A. Sparks. The Heroic Client: A Revolutionary Way to Improve Effectiveness Through Client Directed, Outcome Informed Therapy., San Francisco:Jossey-Bass Inc, 2004.) which in effect says just this. It is as close to a meta-analysis of Psychotherapy as one can get.
Therapy very much depends upon WHO delivers it, not upon the technique employed.
Anyhow, this is slightly off topic.
I have to agree with Anna K, position in the family is not the only determinant of "Personality" - but this is exactly what I said. It is probably the "dance" within the family structure and factors outwith "sibling rivalry" (a term coined by Adler), such as wider societal influences, as to how the personality develops. The Jesuits are often quoted as saying "give me a child to the age of seven years, and we have him/her for life". Many of our personality traits develop before the age of five, so "competitiveness" ,"tenacity" and so on will be determined early on in life, but this does not mean that you can't change, if as Addo says the "Desire" is there in sufficient abundance to drive you.
Watch man touches on physical ability, something I mentioned earlier. Very often a drive to achieve will follow a course determined by physical ability. Archery is not the only "sport for all". Look at our wheelchair athletes, and indeed most of our paralympians. Amazing! They are truly determined and driven. I'd love to know if they have been studied with respect to any of the discussions on this thread.

[addo]

Originally Posted by ASW1973

The level of emotional damage can be akin to bereavement in extreme cases leading to destructive behaviors to themselves and those around them. Not recognising how these feelings can spiral quickly out of control is very dangerous. the emotional impact of poor performance can not be overcome by simply practicing more, in fact this may be even more destructive.

As you say ASW"The level of emotional damage can be akin to bereavement in extreme cases " A very good example i think of this is boxing.Many boxers retire after a slump in form.They don't retire cos of the physical risk,they don't retire cos they lost there bottle,they retire cos they are emotionally spent.This normally happens after they've tried harder to get back to top form by training harder than they've ever done before.In most cases a rest is as good as a cure,but you have to have the correct amount of rest.Boxers who come back after a couple of years tend to do better than those who only take 6 months out.Tenacity can do as much harm as good in this case.

Coincidently,there is a psychological time frame for the healing process in the case of bereavment.It is more or less 3 years.If you look at any sportsperson who has come out of retirement you will find in most cases that the ones who have been out longer may not reach there old levels of competence but they have easier time dealing with it.The ones who rush back after hard work always seem to be on edge.

Having read this i think that a patient personality would be a fine trait to have.Not just in archery,but in all sport.

[WhitehartFB]

Originally Posted by clickerati

I had a look around the web today for articles and whatnot that might have looked into the best type of personality for competitive archery - type A, type B, introvert, extrovert, etc. (I don't mean characteristics like hard working, focussed, etc.)

Couldn't find anything specific, but I was curious to know your opinions.

IMO A personality and mindset which includes the following: those that are prepared to make the time, put up with the sacrifices, listen and trust their chosen mentor and understand that they do not know it all from the start and are prepared to learn, put it into practice and do what it takes to achieve their goals.

Pedantic, driven, articulate, confident and single minded.

[wanshu]

Having fun and keeping it light inbetween rounds is a needed distraction as concentration takes it's toll on the mind and body.
Laughter and fun releases endorphines to aid the feeling of well-being (relax after the stresses of shooting)
Tenacity in early childhood years is often referred to as stubbornness.
In adulthood a good number of the populous are regarded as being stubborn, especially if they stick to the task in hand rather than give up.
Others are stubborn because they are strong willed, eg: they will not bow to peer pressure or temptation. Is tenacity/stubbornness/strong will whatever we call it, a trait thats biological, or learned through the socialistation process within the family structure? I would favour the biological route as children will often exibit similar family traits.

Psychologist love to prove/disprove each others theories and the statistics they use are there to view with a sceptical eye.
As Benjamin Disraeli, was said to have once said there are "lies, damned lies, and statistics" Not the first to coin the phrase but still to the point regarding statistical proof.
Tenacity is another word for controlled focussed stubborness.
A needed attribute in any sport that requires a good amount of dedication to train hard and long to enable you to reach your goals. Enough to be the best or good enough to compete with the best.

Simon Terry would be the stubborn end of tenacity as he continued when others had decided to walk.
Just another opinion!

Originally Posted by Watch_Man

Wendy shot against both at Clophill and the attitude was the same there. Both enjoy their archery but once they are on the line it is serious. Wendy has shot quite a few times against Lucy and she is always very pleasant, friendly and has a great sense of humour while still being totally professional. In the Gold medal match, Lucy, Wendy and the judge were doing the 'give me sunshine' dance from Morecambe and Wise as they went down to collect their first arrows

Regarding 'tenacity' we see archers at nearly every tournament retire because they are not going to achieve good scores. Sunday was a good example at Welbeck. It was very obvious scores were going to be low because of the wind. Archers retired after the first distance because they were not going to get the score they wanted. Others stayed till the end and while the scores were low the experience was valuable. And of course one of the ones who stayed till the end was Simon Terry who put in a remarkable score considering the weather - perhaps that is why he is as good as he is - tenacity.....