Why a Para Athlete’s Attention Narrows Under Pressure and What the Coach Needs to Notice

A coach may sometimes notice a change before the athlete does. The rhythm has changed, the position has become less stable, the athlete responds later to changing conditions, takes longer to prepare an action, or spends several attempts monitoring the same detail. Yet the athlete may still look completely focused. They are not distracted and have not disengaged from the competition. The coach’s first reaction is understandable: point out what has changed, correct the technique, or ask the athlete to pay closer attention to a specific element. But the problem is not always technical, and it is not always a lack of concentration.

In para sport, the information needed for performance can vary considerably even between athletes in the same discipline and classification. One athlete may rely more on visual cues, another on body position and support, and another on the feel of the movement. The position of a chair or equipment, the work of an assistant, conditions, rhythm, direction, or an opponent’s actions may all matter. Some athletes also need to account for changes in muscle tone, sensation, coordination, fatigue, or pain. For others, these signals may not be relevant at all. This means that it is not enough for a coach to know where an athlete “should be looking.” The coach needs to understand which information regulates the performance of that particular athlete.

Under pressure, the way attention is distributed across this information can change. Research on attention and anxiety suggests that anxiety can reduce the efficiency of goal-directed attentional control and increase the priority of information perceived as most significant at that moment. This does not mean that every para athlete’s attention will automatically narrow under pressure. But attention may become less flexible. One signal can begin to occupy a disproportionate amount of attention, while switching to other relevant signals happens later. In more pronounced cases, this type of narrowing is described as attentional tunneling.

For one athlete, that signal may be body position. For another, it may be a visual cue, a technical element, equipment, or movement direction. For someone else, it may be a genuine change in physical state, such as increased spasticity, earlier fatigue, or altered sensation. This is where the coach needs to avoid making a quick assumption. If an athlete is monitoring their body, it does not necessarily mean they are overcontrolling. If they are checking equipment or support, it does not necessarily mean their attention is in the wrong place. That information may be essential for performance. The more useful question is whether the signal is still providing useful information or whether the athlete’s attention has become stuck on checking it.

This can sometimes be seen in what begins to disappear from the athlete’s performance. A shooter continues to monitor positional stability carefully but notices a change in execution time later than usual. A boccia player maintains control of direction but loses their usual preparation rhythm. An archer closely monitors one performance cue but responds later to changing conditions. Sometimes an athlete spends several attempts checking their physical state even though it is no longer changing, while making less use of other relevant information. The athlete may still be highly concentrated. The problem is not the absence of attention. It is how that attention is being distributed.

This is where a coach may begin adding instructions. Correct the position. Remind the athlete about rhythm. Restore a technical element. Point out the conditions. But if the athlete’s attention is already overloaded, every new instruction requires another conscious shift of attention. In para sport, this can matter even more because some athletes already need to consciously monitor information that other athletes may not need to track deliberately.

Before intervening, it can therefore be useful to ask a different question. Not only, “What has changed?” but also “What information is the athlete using right now, and what information have they stopped using?” If their physical state, support, or equipment has changed, a real adjustment may be required. If the problem is technical, a technical cue may be appropriate. But if the athlete has spent several attempts repeatedly checking an already known signal while losing access to the broader situation, another instruction may simply increase the attentional load.

The coach’s task is not to make a para athlete monitor their body less or trust their sensations more. There is no universal rule. The task is to work with the athlete in advance to identify their relevant performance cues, understand which signals require an immediate response, and which can be checked and then released. This ability is better developed in training than introduced for the first time at a major competition.

For a para coach, technical analysis is therefore only part of the picture. Sometimes the athlete knows exactly what to do, but under pressure stops using some of the information that normally helps regulate the action.

In that situation, the athlete may not need more information from the coach.

Sometimes the more important question is which information has already taken too much of the athlete’s attention, and what they need to regain access to.