A Qualitative Study on Psychological Skills Training Experiences of Rapid-fire Pistol Athletes

The objectives of this study were twofold: (1) to help high school athletes who lacked psychological skills a) overcome psychological difficulties in practice and competition situations and b) reach peak performance, and (2) to understand the effects of psychological skills training on perceived performance of high school rapid-fire pistol athletes. By using a purposive sampling method, this study selected four male rapid-fire pistol athletes from the shooting team of H High School in the Republic of Korea, who were registered with the Korea Sports Federation in 2021. A psychological skills training program was applied for 10 weeks to the treatment group, and this study integrated and analyzed data collected through individual in-depth interviews and participatory observation to test the effectiveness of the program. It was confirmed that the subjects learned how to overcome psychological and physical tension and anxiety by actively applying the acquired psychological skills on the field and improved their confidence in specific skills by using the 10- week psychological skills training, in-depth interviews, and participatory observation. It was also found that the level of personally expected performance increased. These results showed that the psychological skills training program had a partial and positive impact on the perceived performance of high school rapid-fire pistol athletes. It is hoped that the results of this study will serve as a meaningful basis for the development and application of more scientific and systematic psychological skills training programs optimized for each individual while considering the psychological characteristics of athletes.