Matteo Campagna
ITEN
Menu
Menu

One study of elite shooters found that caffeine does not change pre-competition anxiety

1 study

ForContextAgainst20102015202020252009, for, n = 72009, context, n = 7
Each circle is a study: its position gives the year, its row whether it is for, against or context, its size how many participants it measured. Light circles are studies on other populations or without archers.

There is nothing on archers. The only data come from clay target shooting: seven elite double-trap shooters, in a randomised double-blind study, took 4 mg of caffeine per kilogram of body mass or a placebo before a four-round competition, and filled in a competitive anxiety questionnaire before shooting. The figures are practically identical: cognitive anxiety 16.9 against 17.0, somatic anxiety 15.4 against 15.6, self-confidence 25.1 against 23.4. The score did not change either, 150 targets with caffeine against 155 with placebo. These are seven people, a different sport in which the gun is fired rather than a bow held at full draw, and a questionnaire on reported anxiety, which says nothing about tremor: the claim rests on another sport and stops there.

Also phrased as: "coffee before competition makes you anxious"; "caffeine and competition anxiety"; "no coffee before shooting"; "caffeine makes you jittery"

In practice

Archers are often told to skip coffee on the morning of a competition, because it makes them jittery, raises anxiety and makes the aim shake.

Evidence

  • 2009
    For Other sport Published later

    7 elite male double-trap shooters, double-blind placebo-controlled study, CSAI-2 questionnaire before competition: with 4 mg of caffeine per kilogram cognitive anxiety 16.9 ± 3.5 against 17.0 ± 5.2 with placebo, somatic anxiety 15.4 ± 4.3 against 15.6 ± 4.3, self-confidence 25.1 ± 3.8 against 23.4 ± 6.2. Including the 2 mg per kilogram dose as well, tried in 5 shooters, there was no difference among the three conditions (best p 0.080).

    Caffeine and performance in clay target shooting · Bianca Share, Nick Sanders, Justin Kemp

  • 2009
    Context Other sport Published later

    In the same study caffeine does not change performance either: targets hit over the four rounds 150 ± 17.1 with 4 mg per kilogram, 151 ± 10.9 with 2 mg and 155 ± 15.0 with placebo (p = 0.406), and no difference in reaction times or target tracking times.

    Caffeine and performance in clay target shooting · Bianca Share, Nick Sanders, Justin Kemp

Status history

  1. 2009 Transferred The first study to measure competition anxiety after caffeine in a precision sport appears: seven elite double-trap shooters, 4 mg per kilogram against placebo, double-blind, with cognitive anxiety 16.9 against 17.0, somatic anxiety 15.4 against 15.6 and self-confidence 25.1 against 23.4, no difference. There is nothing on archers, so the claim rests on another sport.

Related

Related articles

Research lines

Cite
APA

Campagna, M. (2026). One study of elite shooters found that caffeine does not change pre-competition anxiety (Version 1). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/mind/caffeine-pre-competition-anxiety

BibTeX
@misc{campagna2026_caffeinaansiagara,
  author = {Campagna, Matteo},
  title = {One study of elite shooters found that caffeine does not change pre-competition anxiety},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
  url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/mind/caffeine-pre-competition-anxiety},
  note = {Version 1; accessed 2026-10-16}
}

Other claims in this domain

See all claims on mind and attention