Saccoman's pyramid scheme for gold

Gabriele Saccoman loves playing mind games with himself as he bids to become a Para archery great.

The Italian showed why he is one of the sport’s rising stars with victory in the European Para Youth Games in Istanbul.

Saccoman needed to keep his cool and focus as he won the Compound U23 Open gold in what became a one-arrow decider with Slovakia's Liliana Lacova.

And it is the mental games he plays while practising back home in Padua that may have proved crucial in the victory.

The 18-year-old said: “I start by shooting 30 arrows from half of an indoor competition distance and I count them to see in 30 arrows how it compares with previous scores.

“Then I play some games, something thrilling, something that gets me uncomfortable but empowers my shooting.

“I’ll maybe shoot the arrows in a pyramid formation, not focusing on the X, or the 10 ring, just changing my focus to the six or the five.

“It’s just to change my perspective and getting me uncomfortable.”

Italy's successful Para archery team at European Para Youth Games in Istanbul

Saccoman, who suffered a stroke just hours after being born, reckons Para archery is a sport where mental toughness is more important than physical strength.

“I do training but that’s not connected with the archery field,” added the student. “It is just for my physicality.

“Having big muscles doesn’t really help. You need to have a good physical structure but it’s not the most important.

“You need to have good technical ability but the mental condition is also very important.

“I played lots of sports as a youngster, but this is a sport that with the correct adjustments does get me to the same level as people who do not have a disability. In other sports you can’t.

“The majority of the time it is the mental effort to be a successful archer.

“It would be too easy to say that just concentration is enough. You have to be really focussed and not think about anything else, just the bow and the target.

“The most important mistake you could do is to think about the points.

“If you start to calculate the points, to see if you are the leader or are in last position, to start to reason what is happening then that doesn’t allow you to pay attention to what you are really doing.

“It’s concentration, having a wide mind but with no thoughts other than on the target.”