Church, D. · The Open Sports Sciences Journal · 2009
26 college basketball players received either a 15-minute EFT session or a placebo intervention before a simulated game scenario; players who received EFT improved free throw accuracy by an average of 20.8% while the placebo group's accuracy decreased by an average of 16.6%, with no significant difference between groups in vertical jump.
If a brief pre-performance tapping routine keeps showing this kind of edge, picture an athlete facing a game-deciding free throw or penalty kick, self-administering five minutes of tapping beforehand with no coach or sports psychologist needed to settle nerves and sharpen focus, not building new physical skill, but clearing away the mental noise that gets in its way. That could matter for athletes at any level whose performance suffers under pressure, not talent.
Since accuracy moved dramatically while vertical jump, a pure physical measure, didn't, this cleanly points to a mental-focus or anxiety-reduction mechanism rather than physical enhancement — worth confirming with HRV or cortisol measured immediately pre-shot to see whether the calm precedes the accuracy gain. Testing the same protocol in a live-game, adrenaline-heavy setting rather than a simulated one, and mapping dose-response (how many minutes of tapping produce the peak effect before diminishing returns), would help coaches use it practically.
| Design | Randomized trial |
|---|---|
| Participants | 26 people |
| Population | Pac-10 college basketball players (men's and women's teams) |
| Comparison group | placebo intervention of similar duration |
| Outcome measures | free throw shooting percentage, vertical jump height |
| Journal | The Open Sports Sciences Journal |
| Year | 2009 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Method | EFT / tapping |
| Publication type | Study / trial |
| Verification | ✓ Confirmed against the primary source |
Church, D. (2009). The Effect of EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) on Athletic Performance: A Randomized Controlled Blind Trial. The Open Sports Sciences Journal.
This record is part of the Tapping Evidence Base — an openly-sourced, fully-referenced directory of the research on EFT/tapping. Explore more studies on Athletic Performance
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